A Suffolk teenager who was involved in a police car chase in Bury St Edmunds which ended when he crashed into a traffic bollard has been given a suspended sentence.

A police officer on mobile patrol in St Olaves Road at 7.30pm on March 9 last year saw a VW Golf speeding towards him without its headlights on, Ipswich Crown Court heard.

The officer pulled alongside the car, which was being driven by 19-year-old Sam Fearn and gestured to him to stop and wind down his window.

The officer pointed out that his headlights weren’t on and told him not to restart the engine, said Marc Brown, prosecuting.

Fearn, who had two passengers in the car, said “OK” but then drove off at speed.

The officer turned his car round and followed Fearn who was driving at 50mph in a 30mph limit and weaving in and out of parked cars.

During the chase Fearn turned right into Beard Road without braking and then into Clay Road, which was a dead end.

He came to a halt when his car struck a cycle path bollard.

All three occupants of the car ran off and when police went to Fearn’s home they discovered cannabis worth between £250 and £750 and a small amount of cocaine.

A phone seized from Fearn contained evidence that he had been dealing in cannabis for three months, Mr Brown said.

Fearn of Genesta Drive, Thurston, near Bury St Edmunds, pleaded guilty to being concerned in the supply of cannabis between January 1 and March 10 last year.

He also admitted dangerous driving, failing to stop after an accident, driving without a licence, driving without insurance and possessing cocaine.

He was sentenced to 17 months detention in a young offenders’ institution suspended for 24 months and banned from driving for 12 months.

He was also ordered to do 180 hours unpaid work and to pay £200 costs.

Sentencing Fearn, Judge David Pugh warned him that if he reoffended during the suspended prison sentence it was “almost inevitable” that he would get an immediate custodial sentence.

Kelly Fernandez-Lee for Fearn described her client as “naive, stupid and immature”.

She said he had been showing off to the passengers in his car and he now realised that what he’d done “wasn’t cool”.