A DESPERATE burglar led police on a potentially deadly car chase, a court heard yesterday.

Video footage shot from a police helicopter showed David Michael Stead driving a stolen Ford Transit van at high speed as he tried to shake off patrol cars in a 20-minute pursuit from east Durham into Hartlepool.

Durham Crown Court heard that earlier Stead and an accomplice loaded £9,000 worth of stolen equipment into the van at a tool hire premises on Durham's Dragonville Industrial Estate.

Police were informed and the helicopter caught up with the van heading along the A181, approaching Wingate, in east Durham.

Police with sirens pursued the van, taken from the car park of the Billingham Arms Hotel a few days earlier, through Wingate and Station Town, to Hartlepool.

Chris Williamson, prosecuting, said it reached speeds of up to 70mph on 30mph-limit roads, striking several vehicles, including a bus, and being driven the wrong way round roundabouts.

The chase ended in Dunoon Road, when Stead leapt from the fast-moving van, which struck a lamppost.

The lamppost collapsed, smashing through the lounge window of a house, where a disabled woman, her daughter and 18-month-old granddaughter narrowly escaped injury from flying glass.

Stead ran off, but was arrested after a short chase.

The 35-year-old father-of-three, who had a "substantial record" including eight previous custodial sentences, admitted burglary, aggravated vehicle taking, dangerous driving and driving while disqualified.

Shabbir Merali, in mitigation, said Stead "resorted to desperate measures" after coming under pressure to pay off a drug debt of £2,000.

Jailing Stead for three years and ten months, Judge Michael Cartlidge said the burglary appeared "a well-planned operation", followed by "a really shocking piece of driving".

Stead, of Dorothy Street, North Ormesby, Middlesbrough, was also banned from driving for five years