Burglar chased by police at 100mph with accomplice in the boot

Foster Allan, 21, stole the Mazda from a garage in the city and after leading police on a five-mile race abandoned the car and ran into undergrowth.

A police helicopter and officers with dogs tracked him down – and it was later discovered that at the time of the offence last January, he had burgled a newsagents and was on bail for a similar theft where he had taken snatched a customised VW Golf.

Sentencing Allan at York Crown Court, Judge Stephen Ashurst said: "What you did caused substantial financial loss to the victims. Criminals who drive around stolen vehicles late at night at speed put people's lives at risk."

Allan, a father-of-two, from Green Hammerton near York, pleaded guilty to two charges of burglary and one each of dangerous driving, aggravated vehicle taking, driving while disqualified and driving without insurance.

He was banned from driving for four years and ordered to retake his test.