A motorist who was followed by two police aircraft during a three-hour pursuit was jailed for nearly six years yesterday.

Raymond McLoughlin, 27, from Hartlepool, was recognised by police as a disqualified driver when he drove away from a nightclub in the town in the early hours.

The high-speed chase ended in a crash that left a woman passenger needing 16 stitches, said Aisha Wadoodi, prosecuting at Teesside Crown Court.

McLoughlin was arrested again three months later for a second offence of dangerous driving, the court was told.

The marathon pursuit by police spotter aircraft began in mid-afternoon at Portrack, Stockton.

McLoughlin led police up the A19 to the A689 and then through former mining villages in County Durham.

Even though he had four passengers in the car, including a three-year-old child, he went the wrong way through a contraflow system at 80mph, down a closed off section of road causing workers to jump for their lives, through a graveyard and twice drove on the pavement to avoid police Stinger devices, before finally crashing through a fence into a field.

A police armed response unit was brought in before he surrendered, said Miss Wadoodi.

McLoughlin of Brierton Lane, admitted two charges of dangerous driving in November and February, and also to driving without insurance and while disqualified, criminal damage, causing grievous bodily harm and attempted theft.

He was jailed for five years and nine months.