A teenager who escaped from police following a 100mph chase has been sentenced to six months detention.

Michael Brown, 19, from Harrow, pleaded guilty to dangerous driving, having no licence and no insurance - and appeared for sentencing at St Albans Crown Court on February 1.

He was also convicted for possession of cannabis.

The court heard how Brown of Shaftesbury Avenue, sped away from police along the A41 in Watford after officers noticed his Ford Mondeo had damaged bodywork and a broken light at 1.15am on June 13 last year.

One police officer said: “He drove off along the A41 at speeds exceeding 60mph - at times over 100mph. He went through a red traffic signal at 85mph and the wrong way around a roundabout."

Police then lost sight of the car but noticed tyre marks on Elstree Road.

Following a registration check, Brown was traced to his home in Harrow where police found him parked outside his house in the Mondeo with his girlfriend who said she was 16 weeks pregnant. He also had five small bags of cannabis on him.

The court heard Brown had received an 18-week sentence suspended for 18 months for a similar driving offence he had committed three weeks later, on July 4. In all, he had six previous convictions for 12 offences.

William Maley, defence, said he had “read him the riot act", adding: "He is still young. He needs to grow up and be productive in society.”

In addition to six months detention, Brown received a 21-month driving ban.

Judge Philip Grey said: "You knew you should stop. You drove off at enormous speeds. It was an incident of appalling driving.

"You need to understand this is extremely serious offending. Your horrific driving put other road users at great risk. It is purely down to luck we are not dealing with a crash involving other users. People die because of this sort of behaviour.

"Selfishly you put your desires above the safety of others on the road."