Biker ‘somersaulted’ into tree after crashing in high-speed police chase on Leeds road

Liam Benson suffered a broken wrist, nose, finger and a contusion to his lung following the crash in Rothwell, which left the bike syuck in the tree.

Leeds Crown Court heard that police had been tending to another incident on the evening of November 15 last year, when Benson went past on a bike, but aroused suspicion when he appeared to speed up.

They tried to flag him down but he refused to stop, with the police illuminating their blue lights and sirens. He overtook vehicles along Leadwell Lane at more that double the 30mph speed limit and one vehicle was forced to swerve out of the way to avoid a head-on collision.

The 39-year-old then turned off onto Westfield Lane where he reached more than 70mph. However, he tried to negotiate a right-hand bend but lost control, ploughing though a wall and being thrown head-over-feet into the tree, along with the bike.

Father-of-four Benson, of Healey Gardens, Batley, has eight previous convictions for dealing in heroin, cannabis and robbery, receiving a lengthy jail sentence for the latter.

He admitted dangerous driving, having no licence, insurance and possession of cannabis from the bike incident. Mitigating, Christopher Morton said Benson was a tiler by trade but was unable to work due to the injuries caused in the crash.

He said that he had a disagreement with his ex partner that day and borrowed his friend’s motorbike, despite not having a licence, to visit her and their children.

Mr Morton said he panicked when the police tried to flag him down. He added: “It was a spur-of-the-moment decision. He describes his behaviour as stupid and acknowledges he put everybody else in danger.”

Judge Christopher Batty gave him an eight-month sentence, suspended for 18 months, 100 hours of unpaid work, 15 rehabilitation days and banned him from the road for 18 months.

He told him: “Nobody forced you to get on that bike and forced you to drive in that way. If anybody else had been hurt that day you would have gone straight to custody.”