'Laughing' driver rammed police car and forced Otley officer to dive for cover

Sebastian Brooke took his partner’s Vauxhall Corsa from the driveway in Otley after a drunken fight on the night of April 9 last year, but was blocked in by the arriving police car.

When an officer stepped out, 41-year-old Brooke revved the engine then reversed at speed, forcing the officer to take evasive action. The Corsa smashed into the police car in which another officer was sat. He suffered a head injury and needed hospital treatment.

Leeds Crown Court was told that Brooke was “laughing and screaming in an hysterical way”. The officer used his baton to shatter the Corsa’s window but Brooke continued to drive off, colliding with a parked car.

Undeterred, he set off again and hit another car. The officer was able to catch up to him and smashed the windscreen with his baton, before using PAVA spray to incapacitate him.

Prosecutor Kitty Colley said that in the hours prior, Brooke had been in a pub in Menston with his partner but became angry when she wanted to leave. After storming out he sent her messages calling her a “sl*g” and a “c*nt”, before turning up at her home.

Causing criminal damage to a wardrobe, he then forcefully pushed a female friend to one side before punching his partner in the face. He then grabbed the car keys.

Brooke, of Buckden Court, Quarmby, admitted two counts of actual bodily harm, assault, criminal damage, dangerous driving and failing to provide a specimen for analysis. He has been held on remand since his arrest and has 14 previous convictions for 22 offences.

Mitigating, John Batchelor said that Brooke, a heating engineer by trade, had been brought up by his grandparents and had turned back to drink and drugs after the death of his grandfather.

Mr Batchelor added: “He says he is too old for this, and he intends to go to Chester to live with his brother or close to him after his release.”

He said that he had also come off the heroin substitute, methadone, since he was remanded in jail.

The judge, Recorder David Gordon jailed him for 27 months and gave him a 37-and-a-half-months’ driving ban.