A YOUNG thug from Melksham is behind bars, having been given two 'second chances' by the courts, after he was caught driving without insurance and then denied he had been behind the wheel.

On Monday a judge lost patience with Mohammed Uddin and jailed him for two years. Judge Sir John Royce told him he had run out of road, imposed the two-year jail term and also banned him from the road for three years.

Tessa Hingston, prosecuting, told Swindon Crown Court how Uddin was spotted by police driving a BMW in the early hours of July 12. Officers checked and found the vehicle was uninsured, and when they put their lights and sirens on it raced off along the A350 outside Melksham, before driving at between 60-70mph in residential 30mph zones heading into the town.

After going the wrong way around a roundabout it came to a halt in a dead end on Campion Drive, where Uddin leapt out and made a run for it.

He was arrested nearby with the keys in his pocket, but insisted he was out for a walk and had not been driving the car.

Uddin, 20, of Sarum Avenue, Melksham, initially denied the allegation but changed his plea to guilty before magistrates on the day of his trial. The case was sent to the crown court for sentencing and because he was also in breach of a previously-imposed suspended sentence.

Uddin had previously been before the courts for robbery, after he and a mate set about two men who had asked them to be polite to staff in a takeaway in Swindon, and for a drunken attack on a nightclub worker.

Laura Paisley, defending, said he had done 180 hours of unpaid work imposed for the robbery and 120 hours for another matter where he forged an insurance document.

She said he panicked after seeing the police behind him and sped away at a time when the roads were empty.

He had bought the car a few days earlier and driven earlier in the evening to the family restaurant in Box to open up, as his brother was delayed at the accountant.

She said he was very sorry and pleaded with the court to give him another chance and not jail him.

Sir John Royce told Uddin: "On February 13, 2015, at this court before His Honour Judge Blair you were extremely fortunate to receive a suspended sentence of two years for a robbery. You were given a real chance on that occasion.

"Unfortunately, as you yourself recognise and the letter you have written to Judge Blair, you have not taken advantage of that opportunity or indeed the opportunity subsequently given to you when you have appeared for various offences.

"I accept you may have decided to go and open the restaurant and drove when you should not, and the police tried to stop you. You must have been aware it was the police trying to bring your driving to an end. You engaged in a sustained and a highly dangerous piece of driving.

"It was in a residential area, you were driving at 70mph in a 30mph limit. It was a serious episode of dangerous driving.

"You at the time maintained the pretence it was not you driving and came up with some cock and bull story that it was someone else driving the vehicle and only pleaded guilty at the 11th hour."