An uninsured motorcyclist who pulled a wheelie while overtaking vehicles “at speed” and crashed into a car has been jailed for 16 months after a judge told him he had driven “like a lunatic”.

Jack Whitehouse, 25, was “showing off, pulling a wheelie at excessive speed” when his motorbike collided with an oncoming Astra on Knaresborough Road, Harrogate, York Crown Court heard.

Whitehouse, who was also a disqualified driver, was knocked off his motorbike and was blue-lighted to hospital with a leg so badly broken it was “completely destroyed”.

But judge Sean Morris, the Recorder of York, told Whitehouse, from Knaresborough, that he should expect “no sympathy” from the court as he had put lives at risk and had a bad driving record.

Prosecutor Gareth Henderson-Moore said that Whitehouse was “showing off” and travelling at above the 30mph speed limit on one wheel when the collision occurred on October 30 last year, which caused damage to his and other vehicles.

He said that Whitehouse was laying in the road “in pain” after falling from his motorbike. He was taken to Leeds General Infirmary and needed surgery to have pins fitted to his broken leg.

It was discovered that Whitehouse had been using false plates on the motorbike which was uninsured, untaxed and had no MoT.

Whitehouse, of Goldfinch Street, was arrested on December 2 last year and charged with dangerous driving, driving while disqualified, fraudulent use of a registration mark and using a vehicle without third-party insurance.

He ultimately admitted the offences and appeared for sentence today (August 14) when judge Mr Morris noted a probation report, compiled just three weeks ago, in which Whitehouse was still “seeking to blame anybody but himself” for the accident.

Mr Henderson-Moore said that Whitehouse had received driving disqualifications twice before.

In November 2020, he was banned for dangerous driving, having no insurance and no licence. As part of that sentence, he was ordered to take a re-test before getting back on the road but failed to do so.

He was banned again in December 2021 for driving while disqualified, failing to stop for police and driving while uninsured.

In both those cases, Whitehouse received a community order, as he did in May 2022 when he was convicted of theft.

His solicitor advocate Michele Turner said that Whitehouse had been “showboating” in the moments before the accident in October and conceded that “his record doesn’t play for him”.

She added: 

Judge Mr Morris slammed Whitehouse for his “highly dangerous manoeuvre” and said he had driven “like a lunatic”.

He told the Knaresborough man: 

He noted the defendant’s past non-compliance with court orders and the fact he was subject to a community order at the time he pulled the wheelie stunt:

Whitehouse was jailed for 16 months and banned from driving for three-and-a-half years.