'He had a moment of utter madness - it was one of the worst decisions he ever made'

A lad was caught speeding on an off-road motorbike around the streets of Stockport by police.

Jaiden Martin, 18, and another unknown rider were spotted on scrambler bikes by the passing police car before they drove onto a footpath to avoid them.

As a result, the officers followed them as they rode up Manchester Road towards Longsight, going through a number of red lights at double the speed limit, Manchester Crown Court heard.

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In dashcam footage played to the court of the incident on May 30 this year, the bikes drove at speeds of 60mph, through red traffic lights, driving on the opposite side of the road and narrowly avoiding collisions with other vehicles.

"There came to a point when the two bikes split up, and the officers continued in the direction of the motorcycle being driven by this defendant," prosecutor Roger Brown said. "He drove through another set of red traffic lights and very narrowly avoided a collision with a car.

"They reached speeds of up to 60mph before the defendant approached a road which has been cut off by the local authority."

He managed to manoeuvre the bike down the footpath, which was only open to pedestrians. The officers were quickly directed to a house nearby where they found the motorbike at the back and Martin was arrested inside.

Martin held only a provisional licence and had no insurance to ride the off-road bike, which was 250cc. He was said to have no previous convictions.

Sacha Waxman, mitigating, said Martin had bought the bike in March this year and used it solely for off-roading and track