Gun exchange triggers armed police response and high-speed chase through Leeds

Aaron Banks was jailed this week for driving offences after he attempted to get onto the wrong carriageway of the M621 in his bid to escape.

Leeds Crown Court heard that a member of the public made a call to the police on May 15 of a blue VW Passat parked up on Midland Road in the Hunslet area.

They had claimed to have seen a rifle being passed through the window of the Passat.

The armed officers were deployed and found the car in a parking bay. They parked up in front of him and ordered him out of the car, but he reversed and then made off towards Balm Road.

Weaving in and out of traffic, he also drove in excess of the speed limit towards Belle Isle Road, prosecutor Jordan Millican told the court.

Banks then tried to drive onto the M621 along an exit slip road, which would have meant he was driving head-on into motorway traffic, but the officers tactically collided with the Passat to prevent the move.

Banks then got out and tried to run but was detained. They found a small amount of cocaine on him, and a bag of cannabis nearby.

The 34-year-old told police he had been waiting for his friend and they were going hunting for rabbits, which is why the witness saw the exchange of the gun. He said he made off because he had the drugs on him.

He said he had bought the car days earlier for £500, despite having no licence.

He has 25 previous convictions for 51 offences, including 17 for driving-related matters.

Banks, of Middleton Road, Belle Isle, was jailed for five years in 2022 for dealing cocaine which also resulted in a police chase.

He appeared in court this week over a video link from HMP Leeds, having been recalled to prison for the 2022 offences.

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For the latest incident, he admitted dangerous driving, driving while banned, having no insurance and possession of a Class A drug and a Class B drug.

Mitigating, Glenn Parsons said Banks simply “panicked” because he had drugs on him and added: “He knew it did not paint a very pretty picture.”

He said the chase was “mercifully short” with the police managing to stop him within minutes. He said his early guilty pleas were his best mitigation.

Judge Howard Crowson jailed him for 14 months and banned him from driving for 31 months.