A 21-YEAR-OLD man, who twice escaped police trying to pull him over, has been jailed for driving dangerously.

Oliver Black, of Black Bourton Road, Carterton, admitted dangerous driving and driving without insurance and or a licence on October 17.

Yesterday the self-employed painter and decorator was given an eight-month prison sentence by a judge at Oxford Crown Court.

Berenice Mulvanny, prosecuting, said Black was seen driving erratically in a VW Polo in Monahan Way, Carterton, by two officers in an unmarked police car.

She said their BMW followed the defendant into Witney and saw him overtaking, undertaking and driving faster than the speed limit.

She said police pursued Black’s car down a dead end but when a female officer got out he pointed a baseball bat at her and drove his car back on to the main road.

She said a marked police car tried to block the road, but again Black drove round it and through a “no entry” sign to escape.

She said he has previous convictions for affray and being drunk and disorderly plus a warning for driving offences in 2012.

Richard Lindsay, defending, said his client thought the police BMW was a drug dealer chasing him for an £11,000 debt.

The barrister said: “He panicked. He was worried he was being chased for money he owed or for revenge.”

But Judge Patrick Eccles said the police officer who approached his car was “clearly not a drug dealer”. He told Black he had put road users in danger and jailed him for eight months.