A motorcyclist who sped off from police then threatened an officer with a makeshift bull whip has been spared an immediate jail sentence.

Tyler Little, 20, had spent two weeks behind bars on remand when he appeared before Oxford Crown Court on Friday to be sentenced for dangerous driving, making threats with a weapon and assaulting a police officer.

But Judge Michael Gledhill QC suspended his 15 month prison sentence for two years, recognising it was a couple of years since the police chase that landed him in court.

He gave the youngster a ticking off, telling the chastened youth: “Your criminal offending is appalling. You’re not yet 21 and you have what is described by the probation officer [in the pre-sentence report] as an 'un-envious' list of previous convictions.

“Your behaviour with motor vehicles is totally unacceptable. You drive while uninsured, you fail to stop when you ought to stop, you don’t have a driving licence.

“It doesn’t matter to you. You just hop on a pit bike, as you did on the occasion I am dealing with, without even giving a thought to what the consequences might be if you crash into another vehicle if you are not insured [or] if you hit somebody.

“Worst of all is your dangerous driving. This is not the first dangerous driving offence a court has had to deal with you for.

“You are totally oblivious to any risk that you might cause to other people. If you want to kill yourself that is entirely a matter for you. What I am concerned about is what damage you might do to other people, what harm - even death - you might cause by the way you drive.”

Last month, a jury unanimously convicted him of dangerous driving and making threats with an offensive weapon.

They heard PCs Baker and Simpson were on patrol in a marked police vehicle on October 28, 2019, when they saw Little on the back of an off-road motorbike. He had a snood around the lower half of his face but was not wearing a helmet and the bike was not registered for use on the road.

Mr Baker, who claimed to recognise Little as the rider, spun his police car around and began to chase the bike down the B4017 in Steventon. They called off the chase over fears that un-helmeted Little could injure himself.

Later that day, at around 3.30pm, the rider was spotted in Abingdon. PC Simpson chased him down an alleyway, where she was confronted by the teen. He kicked a cardboard box towards her, although it missed the officer, then was said to have whipped the hosepipe he had in his hand. She told the jury she had been ‘petrified’.

Little denied riding the motorbike, telling the court he had been helping pal ‘Dan’ siphon fuel from his boat to a car. He said a comment he’d made to officers – ‘it was me, you got me’ – was him being ‘sarcastic’.

Sentencing him on Friday, Judge Gledhill said: “The probation officer describes you as extremely immature. You are, I entirely agree with that; but you are also a grown man and it is about time you grow up and start behaving like a grown man.”

He added: “I don’t want to see you again, but that is very much in your hands. If you decide you want to go and commit further criminal offences you will be going to prison for longer and longer.

“When you come across police officers [in the future] your response will be ‘good morning’ and to walk on.”

Rhianna Fricker, mitigating, said the past two weeks that her client had spent on remand were ‘incredibly sobering for him’. “He hasn’t been able to sleep in anticipation for today’s hearing.”

Little, of Reynolds Way, Abingdon, was convicted of dangerous driving and making threats with a weapon but pleaded guilty to common assault and minor driving matters. He was banned from driving for two years and ordered to take an extended retest. He must pay £1,400 in prosecution costs.

Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Tik Tok

Got a story for us? Send us your news and pictures here

List an event for free on our website here