A POACHER led police on a 20-minute night chase at speeds of up to 120 mph as he tried to prevent them confiscating his dogs, York Crown Court heard.

Bronia Hartley, prosecuting, said a workman had to leap out of the way and HGV lorries had to stop as Luke James Kendall led the officers across fields, through villages at twice the speed limit, through a red light and down the A1 at more than 100 mph.

At one point, his passengers blinded the pursuing police by shining a white light at them, forcing them to pull back. A police helicopter joined in the chase which ended when Kendall abandoned his vehicle in a field.

Police had started following him when they spotted his Subaru with splashes of mud on the A64 near Tadcaster, just past midnight on December 14. When they signalled him to stop on the A1, he set off at 90mph.

He was on his way home after rabbiting illegally at Holtby Lane, Holtby near Stockton-on-the-Forest with his dogs and friends.

After his arrest he told officers a police officer had warned him that if he was stopped in North Yorkshire again, his car and dogs would be confiscated.

Recorder Peter Johnson told him: “You behaved like a complete idiot. You clearly panicked.”

He banned Kendall from driving until May 5, 2012 and ordered him to take an extended driving test. He also ordered him to observe a ten-hour nightly curfew for three months, do 150 hours’ unpaid work in the next 12 months and pay £200 compensation to a farmer for ruining his oilseed rape and barley crops and £350 prosecution costs.

Kendall, 24, of Middlecliffe Lane, Little Houghton, Barnsley, pleaded guilty to dangerous driving, poaching and criminal damage to a field near North Elmsall.

For him, Helen Cousins said he had behaved out of character and was ashamed of his actions. He was a hard worker who helped his seriously ill father every day with his shopping, washing and cleaning.