A DISQUALIFIED driver narrowly avoided jail for leading police on a two-minute car chase in Camborne which ended when his car hit a hedge and overturned.

Conor Richard Elsey, 23, of Three Burrows, near Truro, was driving on Wesley Street on January 2 when police flashed their blue lights, but he refused to stop.

They gave chase and Elsey attempted to speed away before crashing shortly afterwards.

He climbed out of the overturned vehicle and told police officers that he did not stop because he knew he would be arrested.

In a police interview after his arrest, Elsey's excuse for driving while disqualified was that he was "an idiot," and that he was giving his friend a lift.

The offence was the third time Elsey has been caught driving whilst disqualified since 2015.

Sentencing him yesterday (Monday, January 21), Truro magistrates told the young man that his sentence was reduced because of his early guilty plea.

He was handed a 12-week prison sentence, suspended for 18 months, along with a mandatory thinking skills programme, a 20-day rehabilitation requirement and 200 hours of unpaid work.

Elsey was also fined £115 and made to pay court costs of £85. It was also noted that he has an outstanding debt of £1794.82 to the courts.