A MAN arrested after low-speed police chase involving a JCB has appeared in court.

Stephen Seaman faces a number of criminal damage and driving charges arising from the incident on Wednesday last week.

The 27-year-old did not enter any pleas when he appeared at Teesside Crown Court via a video-link from prison today.

His case was adjourned until February 8 by Judge Simon Bourne-Arton, QC, and Mr Seaman was remanded in custody.

He was arrested after the vehicle was taken from a building plot on the site of the former Redcar College, east Cleveland.

It is said the JCB caused extensive damage to a Ford Focus when the marked police car followed it up nearby Yearby Bank.

A gaping hole was also left in a fence at the Miller Homes housing development on Redcar Lane.

Mr Seaman, of Lime Road, Normanby, Middlesbrough, faces three criminal damage charges, two of dangerous driving and one of theft.

A police helicopter was called in during the pursuit, which ended when the vehicle came to rest in a muddy field five miles away in New Marske.