A young man who crashed his motorbike after a 90mph police chase could have his impending prison sentence reduced, after a judge heard how he rescued a baby from a burning tower block.

Tommy Mackay, 23, weaved past traffic on the A3 at 90mph on a silver Suzuki before hitting a blue Subaru at the New Malden roundabout.

He arrived at Kingston Crown Court on Monday, February 27, with a bag packed for prison after admitting dangerous driving, having no licence or insurance and failing to report an accident on September 9.

But Recorder Humfrey Malins CBE delayed sentencing for three weeks after hearing about Mackay’s heroism from his defence counsel.

Mackay was showered in praise in July 2010 after rescuing Sharon O’Shea’s 10-month-old child from the blazing Madingley tower block.

He climbed 15 flights of stairs through black smoke and kicked down a door leading to an award from the fire brigade.

Mackay, supported from the public gallery by his father and mother and friends, briefly spoke to confirm his commendation given in November after the fire.

Mr Malins said: “An event such as the one described, with personal mitigation and other aspects of his life with which I am not familiar, might have a not insignificant impact on length of sentence.”

The court also heard about an eight month suspended prison sentence handed to him last June at Guildford Crown Court, which he breached by committing another offence.

Mackay had been given the suspended sentence after being found guilty of a racist attack at the Albany pub, Thames Ditton, on November 24, 2010, yards from his family home in Queens Road.

Defending Mackay, Mrs Millen said: “He tends to have an extremely hot and violent temper. That is the reason for him to be sentenced for those offences in Guildford Crown Court.”

Asking for a non-custodial sentence, she said: “He has got some substance to him. He has got a credibility to him and an ability to take advantage of opportunities when they are offered to him.”

But Recorder Malins said: “I’ve got to look you straight in the eye and tell you, stay prepared for a custodial sentence.”

He said the court would prepare a fresh pre-sentence report in order to come to a fair judgement at the sentencing on March 19.