A BOXER who sped at 80mph through residential streets has been jailed.

Freedom Eubank panicked when a police patrol car approached him while he drove a Vauxhall Vectra in Brighton.

At first he pretended to stop for the officers, but then sped off in the direction of the Marina, before turning back to the city.

During the pursuit he went through a red light and the wrong way down a one-way street, and also raced at high speed in 20mph residential zones.

He had denied being the driver of the car after jumping out and running off, but was found guilty of dangerous driving by magistrates.

The 28-year-old, a cousin of champion boxer Chris Eubank Junior, appeared at Hove Crown Court for sentence today, where he was sentenced to 15 months in prison.

The judge said he had driven “idiotically”, and had shown an “utterly selfish attitude” about driving while uninsured and without a licence.

Richard Cherrill, prosecuting, said the “speedy” chase began in the early hours of December 1 last year at Bloomsbury Place in Brighton.

He said: “Police approached the vehicle which had pretended to stop, before it was driven away at speed.

“He travelled in Bear Road, where the speed limit is 20mph, at 80mph, and worryingly drove the wrong way down a one-way road, which officers regarded as creating a high risk of a collision or injury to others.

“When the defendant brought the vehicle to a halt he then decamped from the driver’s side and was seen running away by the officers, who arrested him not far away.”

Mr Cherrill said Eubank had claimed to officers he had been a passenger and was unable to open a “jammed” door so went out of the driver’s side.

He said the boxer was previously sent to prison in 2013 for possessing cocaine and ecstasy with the intent to supply, and for possessing cocaine, at Chelmsford Crown Court. 

Eubank also has two previous convictions for assault occasioning actual bodily harm before 2013.

William England, defending, said his client had panicked because he feared being unable to see his two-year-old daughter because of social services.

He said: “When he went to the magistrates’ court he should have admitted what he had done straight away.

“There are a number of reasons why he panicked, mostly relating to his young daughter. It does not provide an excuse, but does provide an explanation.

“When told he was going at around 80mph he was flabbergasted and totally ashamed. He knows as a father, there could have been someone walking home from a night out, and he could have faced offences far worse than the ones he is facing.

“He has asked me to apologise. He let himself and his family down.”

Mr England asked the judge if the sentence could be suspended, but had told Eubank that he could face prison.

Mr Recorder Adrian Chaplin said the consequences of driving a vehicle dangerously at high speeds could have been life-changing, or even fatal.

He said: “The courts deal with people who drive idiotically, even when they are not being pursued by the police.

“You were driving when you should not have been driving. Your attitude to driving without a licence and insurance was utterly selfish.

“Your driving was atrocious. The fact that nobody was hurt, whether that be yourself, or the police doing their duty to stop you driving like an idiot, was a matter of luck, not judgment.”

The judge sentenced Eubank, of St Helen’s Road, Brighton, to 15 months in prison and banned him from driving for three years after his release.