AN HABITUAL offender showed a “flagrant disregard” for other people’s safety in an episode of dangerous driving that saw him almost crash head-on with a police car.

Lee Hepburn was at the wheel of a Toyota car when he decided to overtake another motorist in Wallisdown Road.

This caught the attention of two officers on patrol in a marked police car as Hepburn’s vehicle was travelling directly towards them at speed on the wrong side of the road.

He avoided a crash by returning to the correct side of the carriageway at a distance of just two car lengths away from the officers.

Prosecutor Alec Williams told Bournemouth Crown Court at a hearing on October 21 that police turned their vehicle around and began a pursuit of Hepburn on blue lights at around 11.30pm on March 16, 2018.

“The car was being driven at speeds of up to 50mph in a 30mph zone,” said Mr Williams.

Hepburn turned off the main road and continued to drive at speeds of up to 45mph before crossing a junction without applying the brake and checking if there was any other vehicles in the area.

“There was an abrupt stop and the driver decamped,” added Mr Williams. “He was not found immediately.

“He was found nearby in a front garden. A police dog was used.”

Hepburn was disqualified from driving at the time and fake registration plates were found in the vehicle.

The defendant also faced sentencing for a “classic road rage” incident in the Castle Lane area of Bournemouth on July 24, 2018, while he was on police bail.

The court heard Hepburn’s driving in a Vauxhall Astra led to words being made by motorist Alexander Whitley.

The 32-year-old “completely lost his temper”.

He overtook Mr Whitley before doing an emergency stop directly in front of him.

Hepburn then got out of his vehicle, walked to Mr Whitley’s Ford Fiesta and repeatedly punched the window and wing mirror, causing £170 of damage. At this point the victim drove off.

On August 7, 2020, the defendant was caught driving a Yamaha motorcycle in Paddington Grove, Bournemouth, while disqualified and without insurance.

Mitigating, Robert Grey said Hepburn had put his hands up for his wrongdoing and left himself at the “mercy” of the court.

The court heard he moved to Durham in November 2018 to “sort his head out”, but returned to Dorset in December 2019. Judge Robert Pawson QC said this time in the north had seen the defendant “evade justice”.

Judge Pawson QC said Hepburn’s initial dangerous driving incident was “a deliberate decision to drive with a flagrant disregard for the safety of others”.

“In March 2018 you drove at night and nearly had a head-on crash with a police car,” the judge told Hepburn.

The defendant, of no fixed abode, had already admitted two counts of dangerous driving, two of driving without insurance, two of driving while disqualified, one of criminal damage and one of number plate fraud at previous hearings.

Judge Pawson QC sentenced Hepburn, who has scores of previous offences on his record dating back to the early 2000s, to two years and one month in prison and disqualified him from driving for three years, with an extension due to his period of imprisonment.