A MAN who cannot stop breaking the law has been locked up for two years and banned from the roads for four.

Brendan Lee Teale, 28, sold cannabis and overtook 15 cars waiting at a red light despite being subject to a suspended prison sentence for handling stolen deluxe teddy bears imposed in February.

He has a long criminal record that began 12 years ago when he was 16, York Crown Court heard.

His barrister Andrew Semple said: “He has been a thorough nuisance for some years.”

Recorder Richard Wright QC told Teale: “You were given that chance in February. You completely squandered it and it was your decision not to stop offending.”

He ordered Teale to serve five months of the six-month suspended sentence, plus nine months for possessing cannabis with intent to supply it and related offences, another nine months for dangerous driving and related offences, and a month for failure to attend court. He also banned him from the road for four years from the date of sentence.

Teale, of Riverside View, Norton, pleaded guilty to possessing cannabis with intent and producing cannabis. He denied the dangerous driving offence and related offences, but was convicted by Scarborough magistrates at a trial and sent to the crown court for sentence.

Prosecuting, Reginald Bosomworth said 12 days after Teale kept his freedom at York Crown Court, police smelt cannabis when they stopped him driving on the A64. That led them to search his house and find £30 worth of cannabis and drug paraphernalia. They also found 382 drug dealing text messages on his mobile phone.

He was released on bail, and on April 8, a police officer spotted him driving without a licence or insurance. When he saw her, he sped off, overtaking the queue and going over a pedestrian crossing without checking that the road was clear.

Shortly afterwards, the officer saw the car with Teale’s partner at the wheel and Teale himself on foot. Mr Semple said it had been a short stretch of dangerous driving and no-one was on the crossing at the time.

He had been going through a difficult time in the first half of the year because of his partner’s pregnancy and had only sold cannabis on a small scale.