A NORTH-EAST gang stole a £7,250 caravan to order, hours after it was moved from a secure compound to a farmyard, a court heard yesterday.

Michael Hammond, prosecuting, told Harrogate magistrates that Brian Dale did a deal for the disposal of the caravan and moved it to a farm at Bogs Lane, Starbeck, near the town, so its new owner could pick it up.

But hours later, police spotted the caravan being towed by a van a few miles away, in Boroughbridge Road, Knaresborough.

When officers stopped the vehicle, two men ran off, the court heard.

One was chased and arrested but the other man escaped.

Three hours later, the second man, James Quillan, 26, of Bewick Main Caravan Site at Birtley, Tyne and Wear, walked into a local pub looking dishevelled.

Drinkers were suspicious and called the police.

After being arrested, Quillan gave the name James Brown.

He maintained his fake identity throughout a lengthy interview, in which he said a man he met on a caravan site in Middlesbrough had offered him £50 to drive to Harrogate and pick up a caravan.

Quillan, who appeared in court via a video link from Durham Prison, pleaded guilty to joint theft, obstructing police and driving without a licence or insurance.

Stephen Culleton, defending, made no application for bail.

Magistrates remanded Quillan in custody to be sentenced on November 4.

A charge of theft against William Joseph McPhee, 19, of Dales Street, Cramlington, in, in Northumberland, was dropped by the Crown Prosecution Service.