A DRUNKEN motorist nearly crashed his car into a police vehicle before running away and leaving his baby lying next to the front seat.

Blackburn magistrates heard that a policeman found the abandoned car with the engine still running after Graeme Kershaw tried to escape.

The Clitheroe cricketer had been banned from driving for an excess alcohol offence just two months before his "night of madness" last Sunday, the court was told.

Magistrates ordered the preparation of pre-sentence reports and warned him he could go to jail when they sentenced him on July 24.

Kershaw, 24, of Cross Street, Clitheroe, pleaded guilty to driving while disqualified, with excess alcohol, without due care or insurance and failing to stop after an accident.

Charges of dangerous driving and child cruelty were withdrawn by the prosecution.

David Hartley, prosecuting, said a patrolling police officer was driving in Station Road, Clitheroe, when he was confronted by a Fiat Punto which had drifted on to the wrong side of the road as it negotiated a left-hand bend.

He said the officer was forced to brake hard to avoid a collision before setting off in pursuit of the car, driven by Kershaw, a maintenance fitter at Castle Cement.

He said the Punto cut across a mini-roundabout into Parsons Lane, endangering traffic travelling towards him, before turning into Bawdlands and eventually down a road at the side of the Old Cottage chip shop on to a small car park at the rear.

As the officer pulled on to the car park, he saw the Punto had collided with another car and saw Kershaw running off, he said.

"The Punto was abandoned with its lights on, the engine running and the keys in the ignition," said Mr Hartley.

"The officer also found a small baby on the floor and it was crying. There was a child seat on the front seat but it would appear the baby had not been strapped in."

Mr Hartley said the mother was traced and the five-month-old child was taken to Blackburn Infirmary for a check-up.

The officer went to Kershaw's home and conducted a search. He left to attend to other duties but returned later to find Kershaw asleep in the shed under a pile of blankets.

When interviewed, Kershaw, who gave a breathalyser reading of 73 against the legal limit of 35, admitted drinking six or seven pints of Stella Artois.

He said that when he stopped at the rear of the chip shop he had tried to get his child out of the car seat but had panicked when he saw the flashing blue lights.

Graham Tindall, defending, said his client was the first to admit that he had made a serious error of judgement..

He said Kershaw had played cricket for Clitheroe on Sunday afternoon and had a drink afterwards.

His partner had taken the baby to the match and in the evening she and a friend left to go into town for drinks.

"He began to walk home but the baby became upset and it was at that stage he made the foolish decision to drive," said Mr Tindall. Kershaw declined to comment after the court hearing.