A DANGEROUS driver has been jailed at York Crown Court after driving at 80mph through residential streets in a city suburb.

York Crown Court heard that officers from North Yorkshire Police arrested David Wayne Thornton, 25, in connection with two incidents in four months when he persistently broke motoring laws.

On September 18, he drove dangerously after police told him to stop on Stutton Road near Tadcaster, the court heard.

Last month, York magistrates heard how he was on foot when police arrested him on December 12.

They were looking for a driver who had driven a car at 80 mph in a 30 mph speed limit in Dringhouses earlier that night before abandoning the vehicle.

On that occasion, he tested positive for cannabis and cocaine at a roadside breath test.

In addition he then went on to refuse to provide a specimen of blood when he was in custody at Fulford Road Police Station.

Thornton, of Bramham Avenue, Acomb, pleaded guilty at York Crown Court to dangerous driving on September 18 and failure to provide a specimen on December 12.

The prosecution accepted his plea of not guilty to a charge of dangerous driving on December 12.

He was jailed for six months at York Crown Court and banned from driving for three years and three months by the Recorder of York, Judge Sean Morris.

In mitigation, for Thornton, his lawyer Mark McKone told York Crown Court that Thornton was a family man.

The judge heard that Thornton had a job and Mr McKone went on to urge Judge Morris to allow his client to keep his liberty.

Mr McKone also said in court that Thornton was remorseful for his actions and that he had not thought matters through when he had committed the September dangerous driving offence.