A 15-year-old boy caused chaos in Edinburgh by racing through the streets on a stolen motorbike, endangering schoolchildren and an elderly woman.

On Tuesday, the boy admitted driving the black Honda dangerously on August 30 last year.

He cannot be named because of his age.

The vehicle had been stolen five days earlier, Edinburgh Sheriff Court was told.

Fiscal depute Lorna Ferrier told Sheriff Frank Crowe police saw the teenager riding the bike around 3pm on Queensferry Road.

He had a pillion passenger and drove along the pavement when he saw the officers, narrowly avoiding parked cars.

As he raced off at high speed the passenger "made an offensive hand gesture to the police."

Later, at 3.20pm, a witness saw the bike going through a red traffic light in Gorgie Road at speed.

Ms Ferrier said that in Westfield Road, an elderly woman with a walking frame, was nearly struck as she cross the road.

The woman, she added, as visibly shaken.

Between 3.30pm and 4pm, as the bike passed a school teacher, one of the boys shouted "miss".

The teacher, said the Fiscal, recognised the driver as the accused and that the bike was being followed by a police car.

As the bike approached a road junction, busy with traffic, the 15-year-old drove across four lanes, weaving in and out of the traffic as drivers braked to avoid him.

Approaching another junction, he failed to see some school pupils in uniforms crossing the road and drove through the middle of the group, narrowly avoiding colliding with them.

The chase ended at 4.20pm when the teenager lost control of the bike.

Sheriff Crowe told him: "These are very serious charges of dangerous driving and it is very fortunate no-one was seriously hurt."

He deferred sentence for a Criminal Justice Report and advice from the Childrens' Panel.

The boy was ordered to return to the court on June 28.