A CHIEF Constable has arrested a man over a burglary plot in the car park of a McDonalds restaurant.

Dave Jones was on patrol with North Yorkshire Police’s road crime team in Bedale, as part of Operation Hawk to tackle travelling criminals, when they were alerted to a vehicle carrying two men wanted for conspiracy to commit burglary.

Mr Jones and the officers tracked the vehicle, a white LDV panel van, for 45 miles to Hartlepool, where the men had stopped to buy a meal at McDonalds’ in Burn Road.

The former murder squad detective, who chased and arrested a man suspected of violent attack in Richmond just hours into his first shift at the force last year, apprehended the 37-year-old suspect as he left the restaurant, which uses a character called The Hamburglar to advertise.

Officers arrested the other man, aged 26, before questioning the pair and releasing them on bail as enquiries continue.

Mr Jones said: “I was really pleased to be able to get out onto the frontline and help out my colleagues who have worked tirelessly to make the operation an ongoing success.

“One of the aims of Operation Hawk is to show criminals that if they come to North Yorkshire to commit crime they will be faced with a service determined to make sure they don’t go undetected.”

The arrest came ahead of a day of action, in which 120 officers and support staff made 32 arrests.

Detectives travelled to Middlesbrough to arrest three men and a woman on suspicion of defrauding an elderly North Yorkshire man, who had two cheque books stolen from him which were used to cash cheques totalling about £12,000.

The suspects were arrested when officers conducted warrants at three properties. They have all been released on police bail as enquiries continue.

While on mobile patrol in the Harrogate area they stopped a silver BMW which had been seen travelling at speed.

The occupants of the vehicle, two men in their 30s, were arrested after officers found Class A drugs believed to be worth about £3,000 and a knife.

In the Hambleton and Richmondshire area, officers were focused on patrolling the highways looking out for drivers committing motoring offences.

During a multi-agency operation at Scotch Corner, a number of vehicles were given prohibitions or fixed penalty notices for overloading or vehicle defect offences.

Officers also issued 11 fixed penalty tickets for traffic offences, reported a motorist for dangerous driving and made a drink-driving arrest.