CABLE puller Sean Wilson, spotted by police defying a driving ban, reversed his Renault for 200 yards before getting out and running away, a court has been told.

Stephanie Waite, prosecuting, told Harrogate magistrates it was the second time in a week that Wilson, 29, had been seen driving in Ripon.

Wilson was banned for three years in November 1999 for a drink-related offence and had not complied with an order to take an extended driving test when the ban ended.

Mrs Waite said Wilson, of Oak Road, Ripon, who told the court he had never taken a driving test, had been arrested the day after running off and had then been bailed.

But he did not turn up in court, and while on the run went into a Co-op store in South Grange Road, Ripon, and stole four cans of lager.

He admitted two counts of driving while disqualified, two of not having insurance and others of theft and failing to answer bail.

He was given a five month suspended prison sentenceand was banned from driving for 12 months.

In mitigation, Geoffrey Rogers said Wilson, on whom sentence had been deferred last year, had been off work for several weeks "suffering from unexplained fits".