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A mother who took her friend's BMW and raced it 'like a lunatic' during a 91mph police chase shouted 'you're joking' as she was jailed for four months.
Yasmin Katir, 27, put her head in her hands and exclaimed 'I'm going to jail? Oh my God' as she was led away from the dock.
Judge Sean Morris told Katir that being a mother did not give her a 'get-out-of-jail-free card' and that he needed to send a message to the public about dangerous driving.
Jailing her for four months, he told Katir: 'Anyone who drives like a lunatic when there are blue lights behind must understand that they put life at risk.
'I'm not bothered about your life. I'm bothered about innocent lives and a policeman's life. You are so lucky that you are not here on a manslaughter charge. You could so easily have been.'
He added that the video footage of the police chase was 'terrifying'.
'I've just watched a video where you are flying around corners at 50mph, where you wouldn't know what was coming the other way, going around small roundabouts at 60 and doing 79 in a 30mph zone.
'The public need to know this. If people don't stop when required to do so by police and choose to drive dangerously at speeds putting people at risk, then the courts will lock them up.
''I'm reducing it because you are a mother, but that doesn't give you a get-out-of-jail-free card.'
During the hearing, the court was told how Katir, of Stockton, had taken her friend's £9,500 BMW after she had been at his house.
When he discovered the car was missing the following day, the car owner tried to contact Katir. When he could not contact her, he reported her to police.
Police then tracked down the BMW and started pursuing Katir.
The court heard how the driver started speeding in the 30mph, soon hitting speeds of around 60mph and eventually reaching 91mph.
During the chase, Katir drove onto a grassed area before crashing into a house, where she damaged the walls.
When officers caught up with her caught, Katir claimed she was egged on by a passenger and said she was 'very sorry'.
She admitted dangerous driving, aggravated vehicle taking and having no insurance.
Katie initially claimed he gave her permission to take the car, but the owner said there was no such agreement.
Kate Dodds, defending, said: 'She that night made an extremely foolish decision.
'She chose, with the encouragement of her passenger, to drive faster and faster in a way that was clearly extremely dangerous.
'The driving happily didn't result in any serious injury to anyone... simply through good fortune. She was not under the influence of alcohol.'
She said Katir was the primary carer for her two-year-old child, had taken professional and medical support and was now 'in a much more positive place'.
She argued a jail term would have far-reaching consequences for Katir and her family.