A CAREER criminal will “not be punished” for making dog walkers and families leap out of his way during a police pursuit, York’s top judge said.

Banned driver Adam Henderson drove at twice the speed limit during the Sunday morning chase through Nether Poppleton, said Jade Edwards, prosecuting.

The 27-year-old then crashed through two gates and drove across two fields on a footpath much used by dog walkers and families.

York Crown Court heard that any sentence for Henderson would be “academic” because he was on parole at the time from a  prison sentence.

Defence barrister Matthew Stewart said following his arrest at the end of the pursuit, Henderson had been recalled to prison to finish serving the earlier sentence and is not due for release until January 4, 2026.

“You are a career criminal,” the Recorder of York, Judge Sean Morris, told Henderson, who has a lengthy record including six convictions involving dangerous driving. “You will carry on offending until you get too old to be bothered."

Passing sentence, he said: “It is all academic because you are recalled. Parliament has decided that judges are not allowed to pass consecutive sentences to recall prisoners. All these offences will not be punished.”

He passed a 14-month sentence which has to be served at the same time as the three-year recall period.

He also banned Henderson from driving for a further five years. Henderson must take an extended test before driving unsupervised again.

The 27-year-old of Salts Mill Road, Shipley, pleaded guilty to dangerous driving, driving whilst disqualified, assaulting a police emergency worker and possessing amphetamine.

He also admitted criminal damage to a police cell by smearing his faeces on its wall.

Of that offence, the judge said it “was calculated to demean” and caused a health risk for those who work in police stations and had to “clean up after barbarians like him".

Ms Edwards said police spotted Henderson at the wheel of a van without a front number plate in Station Road, Poppleton, at 10.45am on December 18 and signalled him to stop. But Henderson set off at speed, hitting 60mph in a 30mph zone, and fled from police along Main Street into Church Street, past St Everilda’s Church and through the gate into the two fields.

But when he couldn’t drive his vehicle up a railway embankment and took off on foot he was caught and arrested.

He had amphetamine on him and was taken to hospital when he said he had swallowed 19 wraps of the drug. There he pushed a police officer and tried unsuccessfully to escape when his handcuffs were taken off so he could go to the toilet.

Mr Stewart said on December 18, Henderson had been working as a scrap metal collector and had panicked on seeing the police car. He was remorseful. Since his release from the earlier sentence in November, he had co-operated with probation service supervision.