Police had to use stinger to stop burglar during stolen car chase

Police had to use a stinger device to deflate the tyres of the stolen vehcile as Michael Tennant drove so dangerously around the Ackworth and Featherstone areas.

Leeds Crown Court heard Tennant, 37, used a spade to force his way into a house on Station Road, Hemsworth, in the early hours of August 11 this year.

He stole the keys to a Honda Jazz worth £17,000 parked outside the property and drove off in the vehicle.

Police spotted the car the next morning around 10am at the junction of Ackworth Road and Pontefract Road.

Tennant then drove at 70mph through residential areas in a bid to get away.

He carried on driving after the stinger was used to deflate the tyres of the vehicle.

He was eventually boxed in by police cars and arrested.

Tennant, of Arundel Close, Wakefield, pleaded guilty to burglary, theft, dangerous driving, driving while disqualified, having no insurance and failing to stop.

Patrick Palmer, mitigating, said Tennant had a history of mental health problems.

He said on the day of the burglary he had been to Pinderfields Hospital in Wakefield and asked to be admitted to receive treatment.

Mr Palmer said Tennant became angry and threw a cup of coffee over a doctor after being told he wasn’t ill enough.

He then fled the hospital and panicked after seeing police officers outside the hospital.

The barrister said two men then offered to give Tennant a lift and drove him to the Hemsworth area.

He said Tennant broke into the property to steal the car so he could get home as he was cold and had no money.

Mr Palmer added Tennant was driving to a chemist’s to collect his medication when he was spotted by police.

Jailing Tennant, judge Simon Phillips, QC, said: “The speeds at which you were driving that vehicle were simply horrific.”

Tennant was also banned from driving for 38 months.