A MOTORING menace is behind bars again for what a judge described as the worst kind of dangerous driving.

David Littlefair rammed a businessman's car with his van when he was caught in a compound and tried to escape.

He then led police on a chase before finally stopping in a layby and admitting: "I'm disqualified, I hold my hands up."

The drama started when Littlefair was found in a compound in Sadberge, near Darlington, by crime-plagued Ian Mitchell.

Mr Mitchell drove his Ford Ranger over the entrance, but Littlefair reversed at speed and smashed into it, forcing the driver to jump to safety.

Prosecutor Emma Atkinson told Teesside Crown Court that the 44-year-old's Ford Transit had on false number plates and police started to follow it on the A67, through Middleton-St-George and towards Yarm.

Littlefair, of Hartington Road, Stockton, has 122 offences on his record – mostly for vehicle crime – admitted dangerous driving on February 5, 2017.

Defence solicitor Alex Bousfield told Judge Howard Crowson: "Mr Littlefair accepts there is little that can be said to mitigate the offence."

He was jailed for 16 months and given a four year driving ban, which will start when he is released from prison.

The judge told him: "It was a very bad piece of dangerous driving. It was a deliberate decision to reverse into Mr Mitchell's vehicle so you could escape without damaging the front of your van and the engine.

"This comes against a backdrop of attacks on his premises which have caused a great deal of anguish to him and his family."

The court heard that the £9,500 Ranger was written off, but insurers did not pay out the full amount.

Miss Atkinson said had lost a lot of money and vehicles in the past, and his son is constantly worried about people being in the Lea Close yard.