An unlicensed driver who led police on a five mile chase was labelled a ‘lunatic’ by the mum whose car he almost crashed into.

Police were forced to call off their pursuit of Jesse Billingham’s Renault Clio after senior officers decided it was too dangerous to continue, Oxford Magistrates’ Court heard.

A sergeant in a marked panda car had tried to pull over the unlicensed and uninsured driver in Didcot on April 20 at around 3.40pm.

Billingham, 23, sped off from the police officer – starting a five mile chase that saw him overtake other cars and go the wrong way around the roundabout.

Within minutes of the pursuit being called off over concerns for the safety of others, police got a report of the Renault having crashed in Long Wittenham High Street.

A mum, who had her teenage son and a three-year-old boy in the car, said she was forced to slam on her brakes to avoid being crashed into by Billingham.

Prosecutor Peter Ryman said: “She describes it was a lunatic piece of driving outside a school where she was waiting to pick up her children.”

The court heard Billingham later failed to provide a sample of blood at John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford.

Billingham, of Bonners Mead, Benson, pleaded guilty to dangerous driving, driving without a licence or insurance, failing to provide a specimen and failing to stop at the scene of an accident.

He was bailed to appear before Oxford Crown Court on December 16 for sentence. The justices imposed an interim roads ban.

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