A DANGEROUS driver was branded a ‘lunatic’ after he reached speeds of almost 100mph as he tore around residential streets during a police chase.

Charlie Bowie accelerated away when officers attempted to pull him over in the early hours.

Instead of stopping, he raced around the streets of Dormanstown and Redcar before the high-speed pursuit finally came to an end after almost eight minutes.

A judge at Teesside Crown Court watched police footage of the chase in the early hours of June 25 last year.

The 27-year-old reached 98mph on Coatham Road and 67mph as he sped along the 30mph High Street in Redcar town centre.

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Sentencing him to eight months in custody, suspended for 18 months, Judge Paul Watson QC told Bowie it was a miracle no one was seriously injured.

“On this particular night, in the early hours of the morning, you were driving like a lunatic,” he said.

“The police required you to stop but you set off, I have observed myself, at the ridiculous speeds you were travelling through built up areas and the manner of your driving – at speeds of over 90 mph.

“It’s a mercy that nobody was seriously hurt, as it was easy to see howe that could happen.”

The police footage showed Bowie flee Westfield Way at 3.38am before speeding around Maxwell Place, South Avenue, The Green, and Broadway West.

The was filmed heading towards Redcar town centre at speed before racing around residential areas and eventually come to a stop on Lord Street.

Bowie, of Britannia Place, Dormanstown, Redcar, was ordered to attend 40 rehabilitation activity requirements; placed on an electronically tagged curfew between 8pm and 7am for six months; and disqualified from driving for 18 months.

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The judge added: “You will be disqualified for 18-months from today and I am making it deliberately six-months longer than the minimum period to reflect the protracted piece of bad driving and the very serious nature of the dangerous driving.”

John Nixon, in mitigation, he said on this particular night his client had his dog stolen and was in a bad frame of mind.

Urging the judge to suspend any custodial sentence, he said: “I accept this was a prolonged period of dangerous driving.”

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