Hapless thieves drive into police station

Bungling car thieves were chased by police all the way from the M1 motorway, across playing fields and along a dirt track before crashing through a fence in Northampton - straight into force headquarters.
Four people were arrested after the Mitsubishi Shogun they were travelling in activated Northamptonshire Police's automatic numberplate recognition system and was chased by officers through the county.

But instead of making a speedy getaway, the thieves drove along the A45, did a U-turn and went back again on the wrong side of the carriageway, left the road and headed straight for Wootton Hall, before abandoning the Shogun at the Trading Standards department and trying to hide in a hedge.

A spokesman for Northamptonshire Police said: "A Mitsubishi Shogun had activated an ANPR check on the M1 northbound and the vehicle was followed along the motorway and then along the A45 towards Northampton.

"At the Queen Eleanor interchange, the Shogun - which had been reported stolen in a burglary in Belfast, Northern Ireland on February 10 - did a U-turn in the carriageway and drove against the traffic before leaving the road along a dirt track and through the perimeter fence of Wootton Hall Park Police headquarters.