A JUDGE called for tougher punishments for bad drivers as he sentenced a man for leading police on an 80mph chase through York city centre.

Judge Paul Worsley QC was speaking after watching a police video of the 20-minute 14-and-a-half mile chase that began when officers tried to stop Dean Richard Edwards on the York Outer Ring Road at 4am on Sunday, March 27.

He saw how the 30-year-old headed into the city down Huntington Road, collided with a police car, turned out his lights, drove at speeds of more than twice the speed limit as he reached 82mph, went through red lights, hurtled through Bootham Bar and went the wrong way down Fossgate.

“Anyone who stepped into the road, party-goers going back home in the morning, perhaps having had a drink, could well have been killed by your driving,” the judge told Edwards.

Jessica Randell, prosecuting, said police had to abandon the chase after around 10 miles weaving through York in the rain on wet roads because it was too dangerous for them to continue, but CCTV helped them find Edwards in Tang Hall.

They resumed the chase back to the city centre, through Micklegate Bar and Holgate down Water End where Edwards again hit 80mph before spinning 180 degrees over a cycle and footpath near Leeman Road and crashing into fencing.

Edwards, of Lucas Avenue, Clifton, pleaded guilty to dangerous driving, for which the maximum sentence is two years.

“In my judgement that is woefully inadequate for the sort of driving in which you were involved,” the judge said at York Crown Court.

Earlier he had said: “He was driving at up to 80mph in the centre of York in poor driving conditions.”

The judge handed out a 14-month sentence which included a mandatory discount for pleading guilty at the first court appearance and banned Edwards from driving for five years and seven months.

Amy Levitt, defending, said Edwards was addicted to cocaine, cannabis and alcohol and suffered from depression.

He had not intentionally hit the police car and claimed it was a “tactical” collision by the officers.

He had driven away from the police because “his head had not been in the right place and he simply continued to panic".

He was remorseful for his actions.

The court heard the route of the chase was: Huntington Road, a U-turn at Park Crescent, Huntington Road, Haley’s Terrace, Haxby Road, Clarence Street, Wigginton Road, Clifton Moor Gate, Water Lane, Burdyke Avenue, Kingsway North to Water Lane and back, Burton Green, Burtonstone Lane, Clifton, Bootham, High and Low Petergate, Colliergate and Fossgate where police lost contact.

Then Melrosegate, Fourth Avenue, Fifth Avenue, Layerthorpe, Peaseholme Green, Stonebow, High and Low Ousegate, Bridge Street, Micklegate, Blossom Street, Holgate Road, Poppleton Road, Water End and Salisbury Road.