Driver injured two women and caused £17,000 worth of damage when he ploughed into wall during dangerous police chase near to Leeds city centre

A driver injured two women in a head-on crash and caused £17,000 worth of damage when he ploughed into the side of a building during a police chase near Leeds city centre.
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Craig Cale was locked up for 16 months over the crash on Whitehall Road on July 5 last year.

A Judge who sentenced Cale described the incident as among the most serious of dangerous driving offences.

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Charlotte Noddings, prosecuting, said police officers drove alongside Cale's Ford Ranger in Holbeck after noticing that he had a faulty rear light.

Whitehall Road.Whitehall Road.
Whitehall Road.

The officers told the defendant that they were going to do a vehicle check but he sped off.

He drove at 70mph in 30mph zones along Shafton Lane and Domestic Street.

Cale then drove on the wrong side of a dual carriageway and went the wrong way around two roundabouts before joining Whitehall Road.

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Cale continued to drive on the wrong side of the road and the police officers lost sight of the car.

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Ms Noddings said Cale collided with a Citroen car in which two women were driving.

He struck the vehicle head-on with such force that it spun in the road.

Cale's car then careered into the side of a printworks building.

The defendant and his passenger ran from the vehicle.

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The women in the other car directed the officers to where Cale had headed and he was arrested a short distance away.

The two women were taken to hospital by ambulance.

One of them suffered injuries to her shoulder and chest area.

The prosecutor said it cost the building owners more than £17,000 to repair the damage to the wall.

They also had to pay a further £900 for a structural report.

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Cale refused to provide a breath specimen for analysis after he was arrested.

Cale, of Bodmin Street, Middleton, pleaded guilty to dangerous driving.

He has previous convictions for driving while disqualified and dangerous driving.

Vincent Blake-Barnard, mitigating, said Cale accepted that he must go to prison and had pleaded guilty at an early stage.

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Mr Blake-Barnard said the father-of-four had long standing issues with drugs and alcohol.

The barrister added: "He thoroughly regrets his actions."

Judge Simon Batiste said: "You have a terrible record, which is a significant aggravating factor.

"The driving was the very worst type of police chase."

Cale was also banned from driving for five years and eight months.