Banned Leeds driver shuffled into passenger seat of his Honda after being spotted behind the wheel

Darren Bell, who was already on a suspended sentence for dangerous driving, tried to claim the driver had fled after losing the pursuing officers briefly. In fact, he just parked up before quickly climbing over to the passenger side.

Prosecuting at Leeds Crown Court, Robert Hamilton said officers spotted the 4x4 at around 10.25pm on December 16 last year on Belle Isle Road heading towards Middleton.

It appeared to speed up with the police following and then take an erratic left turn onto Middleton Road and briefly out of sight. The officers then saw it parked up with Bell sat in the passenger seat.

Bell was adamant that he was not driving and the real driver had made off. The officers said it was not possible for a driver to make off in the few seconds the Honda was not visible.

The 29-year-old continued to maintain his innocence and was due to stand trial at Leeds Magistrates’ Court, but changed his pleas on the day. He admitted driving while banned and without insurance.

Bell, of Winrose Hill, Belle Isle, has 11 convictions for 17 offences. In 2019 he was jailed for burglary and theft of a vehicle, and last year he was given a six-month sentence suspended for 12 months for dangerous driving after being caught on camera doing “doughnuts” – spinning a car around on a petrol station forecourt.

Mitigating on his behalf, Shila Whitehead said: “He accepts he was in breach of his suspended sentence but has no real explanation for it. He knows it was stupid and should not have done it.”

A letter was handed to the judge from Bell’s mother, for whom he cares for due to a cancer diagnosis, pleading for him to be spared custody.

But the judge, Recorder David Gordon, said he would be “failing in his duty” if he did not lock him up.

He said: “What possessed you to drive I do not know. You were caught effectively red-handed.”

Activating part of his existing suspended sentence, he jailed him for 32 weeks in total, and banned him from driving for 16 months.