An eight-year-old boy who was hit by a stolen car as he played with friends in a park suffered severe head injuries, police said this morning.

The boy was poorly but stable in hospital after he was hit by a Rover Metro on a cycle path in Riverside Park, Newport, Middlesbrough, at 8pm last night.

The car was seen being driven erratically on rough ground and on paths in the park, close to the River Tees, before it lost control and hit the child.

It came to a stop on a grassed area and several youths got out and fled.

A 16-year-old was arrested later.

A Cleveland Police spokeswoman said: The boy was taken to the James Cook University Hospital with severe head injuries and his condition was described as poorly but stable.