Dramatic police pursuit captured on camera

This dramatic video shows how a burglar led police on an 80mph chase through Staffordshire before losing control and flipping his stolen vehicle onto its roof.

Ricardo Edwards, aged 18, of Smethwick, was locked up for more than two years.

He was in a gang of thieves scouring driveways in Stafford for high performance cars when he was spotted and pursued by officers.

The drama began when worried residents in Thorneyfields Lane phoned police after spotting three black men acting suspiciously, peering through letterboxes and triggering security lights at around 1am. Wolverhampton Crown Court heard how officers arrived and Edwards, driving an Astra which had been stolen eight days earlier in Tipton, sped off.

He frequently doubled the 30mph limit, but reached 80mph, and drove on the wrong side of the road. He used his indicator lights to try to confuse pursuing officers for over 10 miles.

At one stage, Edwards, of Barratt Street, Smethwick, lost control and spun the car around – but managed to speed off again.

The chase took officers along Newport Road and the the A518 to Haughton before he clipped a hedge and crashed in Kingsley Lane, Gnosall. Police searched the car and found a knife, a coathanger hook and a bamboo pole, which the court heard Edwards would use as a fishing rod to steal car keys through letterboxes.

Edwards admitted going equipped for burglary, dangerous driving and aggravated vehicle taking following the chase on February 24 this year. He told probation officials his motivation: "I want to have everything now".

The cocaine addict has convictions for robbery, aggravated vehicle taking and banned driving going back to 2005. He was subject to a curfew when he led police on the high speed chase.

Recorder Mr Andrew Lockhart said: "This was an organised trip by you and others to steal cars by fishing for keys through letterboxes.

"You were going to areas where you thought people would have cars that you'd be interested in.

"This type of offending, if it comes to fruition, causes distress to people who've worked really hard to get cars and earn money so they can have nice things.

"This was a shocking piece of driving that mercifully didn't result in death or injury. If people had been coming in the other direction, they could have been in a head on collision."

Edwards was given 27 months in a young offenders institute and banned from driving for three years.