Shocking CCTV footage shows a reckless motorcyclist driving through a red light with a one-year-old daughter

Shocking CCTV footage shows a father driving recklessly through a red light with his 16-month-old daughter — neither of them wearing a helmet.

The footage, released by Humberside Police, shows James Giles with his daughter on the gasoline tank of the bike on May 8 last year.

Giles, 24, was jailed earlier this month after admitting to dangerous driving and exposing a child under two to harm or danger.

He admitted he had no explanation for his decision to take his baby on a bike and broke down in tears when he heard his verdict.

In the video, Giles can be seen squeezing in and out of traffic at the busy Mount Pleasant interchange in Hull.

Another motorist caught Giles on their dashcam and posted the video to social media. He can be seen racing down a bike path and driving vehicles with the baby on board.

Giles, from Crane Road, Kingswood, dropped his daughter off after about five minutes before continuing on his dangerous ride.

He then fails to stop at red lights and almost crashes into another motorcycle before attempting a wheelie.

At his sentencing on January 16, Prosecutor Stephen Robinson told Hull Crown Court: ‘The defendant tried to do a wheelie and was speeding. He almost crashed into a motorcycle after running a red light.”

Mr Robinson read out a statement from the driver which Giles captured on his dash cam.

They said, ‘I saw the man driving with a child, who must not have been more than two years old, with a pacifier in her mouth. I was very angry because of what I had seen. I posted the video on social media and reported it to the police a few days later.”

By this stage, Giles was aware of the video circulating and voluntarily turned himself in to the police. He said he knew what they wanted to talk to him about and said the video had gone viral.

He admitted that he took his daughter out and also drove dangerously. He told officers, “I made a very big mistake that day.”

Giles had no prior convictions and pleaded guilty at first opportunity. Mitigating, Benjamin Donnell told the court that his client had mental health issues and submitted laudatory character references from his mother, stepfather and a family friend.

He said: ‘My client accepts that what he did that day was completely unacceptable and grossly negligent. He knows there was no justification for what he did. While this was intentional behavior, what he did was not intended to harm his child.

“When he was young, his father died in Afghanistan at the hands of the Taliban. This has had a major impact on his life. He suffers from depression and attention deficit disorder.”

Giles had used cannabis and stopped taking prescription drugs, which had made him more impulsive. He had patched up his act and got a job at a lumber company.

Mr Donnell added: ‘There is no excuse for what he did, but he is dealing with his issues. We have a young man who has done something very wrong, but he is sorry and is taking steps to deal with his difficulties.”

Judge Kate Rayfield accepted the mitigation, but said Giles’ jail was inevitable due to the serious nature of the crime.

She said, “You made a decision to put your 16-month-old child in front of your off-road bike on a busy road with no helmet for both of you. It’s hard to fathom what you were thinking when you put her on the bike.

“You then started riding your motorcycle in a dangerous manner and I watched the footage as you weaved through traffic, went through a red light and undertook vehicles.

“It must have been clear to you that you could have killed your daughter and exposed her to such a dangerous risk. She was too young to understand the risks and as her father you had a duty to protect her which you failed to do.’

Judge Rayfield said she thought the public would expect her to hand down an “appropriate sentence.”

He has been banned from driving for two years and eight months.