TWO members of a gang who carried out a ram-raid on village store will have to wait to be sentenced until their co-defendant has been dealt with.

Daniel Moody and Robert Waller were involved in the plot to smash their way into the Co-op store on the High Street in Great Ayton, pictured, before taking police on a high-speed chase along the roads of rural North Yorkshire.

The pair both pleaded guilty to a charge of burglary from May 9, 2018, but a further member of the gang is due to appear at Teesside Crown Court later this month.

Paul Newcombe, prosecuting, said the gang reversed the stolen truck into the shop window before unsuccessfully trying to smash their way into the cigarette cabinet using tools they had brought with them on the pre-planned raid.

He said: “There followed a high-speed chase through the North Yorkshire countryside. Two of the gang threw the tools they brought for the crime, bolt cutters and a scaffolding pole, out of the window and one of them shone a light at the officers to try to avoid being arrested.

“It was a sophisticated, tooled up, ram-raid.”

Mr Newcombe said the managed to steal some cigarette papers and lighters before fleeing the scene in the stolen truck and being pursued by police.

Nigel Soppitt, representing Waller, said his client, who appeared in court using crutches, wished to learn his fate after turning his life around but agreed the defendants should be sentenced at the same time.

He added: “If he was dealt with at the time his feet wouldn’t have touched the side and he would have gone to prison.

"However, his rehabilitation in the last 27 months has been remarkable.”

Moody, 28, of Birchington Avenue, Grangetown, Middlesbrough, and Waller, 25, of Broadway West, Dormanstown, Redcar, were both released on bail until September 2.

Judge Paul Watson QC, the Recorder of Middlesbrough, said: “I accept that on one hand they are anxious to know what is going to happen to them but on the other hand they should be dealt with at the same time as the other defendant.”

After releasing them on bail, the judge added: “It is my express wish that if the co-defendant can’t be dealt with on that day, you two should be dealt with. This is a serious offence and just because I am releasing you on bail, do not take that as any indication of your sentence.”

Their co-defendant is due at the same court later this month.