A MAN who led the police on two dangerous high-speed chases, one in Evesham and the other in Stratford five months later, has been jailed.

Royston Greening had pleaded guilty to the Stratford incident, but denied the Evesham one, claiming he was not the driver – until pleading guilty on the day of his trial.

Greening, aged 22, of Grafton Lane, Bidford, was jailed for a total of 21 months by a judge at Warwick Crown Court who also disqualified him for two years from the expected date of his release.

Amy Jackson, prosecuting, said that at 12.20pm on October 23 last year a police officer saw Greening in a Ford Fiesta in a queue of traffic approaching an island in The Link, Evesham.

Knowing Greening did not have a licence, the officer approached to speak to him.

But Greening drove onto the pavement to get past the traffic ahead of him to get away – continuing along The Link, where there are several ‘large shopping outlets.’

With the police officer in pursuit, Greening turned onto the A46 where he overtook other traffic by driving over the central chevron markings, kicking up dust into the carriageway.

He left the A46 at the next junction and headed along the A444 Broadway Road at high speed before turning into Longdon Hill.

But when Greening then skidded as he took a sharp left into Manor Road, with smoke coming from the tyres, the officer feared for the safety of other road users.

He abandoned the chase and, knowing where Greening would be heading, took a different route to Bidford where he saw the Fiesta again and put his siren on to indicate for it to stop.

But Greening drove through the centre of the village at 50mph, narrowly missing a bollard as he went onto the off-side of the road to overtake other cars.

For a second time the officer had to abandon the pursuit for the safety of other road-users.

When Greening was arrested two days later he denied it was him behind the wheel, and he was granted bail.

Then at 12.40pm on March 1, another officer on patrol in Birmingham Road, Stratford, noticed the driver of a Renault Clio, Greening, who was not wearing a seatbelt.

He put on his blue light to get him to stop, but instead Greening again sped away and took a left into the Maybird shopping centre where, with a large number of pedestrians and shoppers’ vehicles around, he increased his speed.

The pursuit was abandoned but Greening was later arrested when his Clio was found and Greening was seen emerging from some bushes.

He said that he had no licence and had panicked when the police tried to stop him, added Miss Jackson.

Greening’s barrister said he was the main carer for his mother, who has cancer, and his father who has suffered a heart attack and was "petrified" at the prospect of custody.

Judge Stephen Eyre QC said: "It doesn’t take much in the way of thinking skills when there’s a police car behind you with blue flashing lights that you should stop, not accelerate away.”

He jailed Greening for 13 months for the first offence, with eight-months consecutive for the second.