A RELEASED prisoner who claimed he committed a string of shop raids to pay off his girlfriend's drug debts was sent back to jail yesterday.

Ronald Stead, 24, was caught after he carried out five till snatches on successive days in Hartlepool, Billingham, and Trimdon Village, in County Durham.

He was caught after a pursuing police officer crashed his patrol car into a lorry and was trapped in the wreckage for an hour, said Ian West, prosecuting.

PC Michael Burns had to be cut free near Seal Sands, at Teesmouth, and was taken to hospital with a fractured left wrist.

Stead started the raids just over a month after he was released from a five-year jail sentence last October.

He told police later that he was desperate for cash to settle drug debts which had been built up by his girlfriend, Teesside Crown Court heard. In four of the five till snatches, shop assistants tried to prevent his escape and were slightly injured.

Graham Reeds, defending, said Stead had spent most of his adult life locked up. He did not use force to carry out the raids but only to escape with a total haul of £200.

Stead, of Acclom Street, Hartlepool, was jailed for four-and-a-half years, and ordered to serve first the 364 days recall from his previous sentence after he pleaded guilty to two robberies, four thefts, assault with intent, and dangerous driving last November.

He was also disqualified for three years.