Nathan Bradburn, 18, will be eligible for parole in two months after he pleaded guilty to four charges, including dangerous driving and not stopping in a police pursuit.

Bradburn was arrested by police following a foot pursuit early yesterday morning, after he crashed his car into a median strip at the intersection of Peel and Fitzroy streets. Police said he first came to their attention when they went to investigate a number of calls about a silver Mitsubishi sedan driving recklessly in Peel St, just before midnight. When they arrived, they saw the car being driven through a red light at excessive speed on the intersection of Brisbane and Peel streets. It didn’t stop when police signalled it to pull over.

They said the car was driven through more red lights while being followed by police before a pursuit began.

Senior officers say the pursuit was stopped near Burgmanns Ln due to Bradburn’s dangerous manner of driving. He was clocked travelling at 150km/h in a 100km/h zone, and 100km/h in a 60km/h zone. While officers patrolled the South Tamworth area for Bradburn’s car, staff at Tamworth Police Station went outside to investigate bright headlights directly outside the police station.

They said Bradburn had performed burnouts at the front of the police station before driving off and waving his middle-finger to police before he raced away and struck a median strip down the road.

General duties officers pursued him on foot for about 100m before he was arrested near Ray Walsh House.

He was breath-tested by officers and recorded a mid-range reading of 0.146.

He was charged with offences including Skye’s Law, and mid-range drink-driving, as well as having a large hunting knife in his possession.

Bradburn was refused bail by police and formally pleaded guilty to all offences via videolink at Armidale Local Court yesterday.

Court facts had stated that Bradburn told police he drank between 10 and 12 coffee cups of white wine and orange juice before getting into his car.

His solicitor said there was no dispute in the facts of the case but asked for a community-based alternative sentence a full-time jail term.

She said she believed alcohol was acting as a mask to Bradburn’s mental health condition since he terminated treatment last year and that Bradburn told her he did not recall some of the events from the night. Magistrate Mark Richardson said there was no doubt the community would expect a jail term for the offences.

He sentenced Bradburn to seven months’ jail with a non-parole period of two months.

He licence was also suspended for three years.

“The actions of the young driver are at the higher end of the scale in endangering members of the public and putting their lives at risk,” Oxley LAC Inspector Jeff Budd said of the incident yesterday.

“The fact that he was engaging police in a high-risk act is in itself stupidity combined with his level of intoxication.”