TWO suspected thieves who took a delivery driver’s car for a joyride were arrested following a police pursuit and some help from above.

At about 9.45pm on Monday, police received a report a car had been stolen from outside an address on Harvard Court in Newcastle.

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The 24-year-old delivery driver had left his pregnant girlfriend in the car and the keys in the ignition when he hopped out to drop off a package.

However, a man suddenly swooped into the driver’s seat and started the car – terrifying the woman who jumped out from the passenger seat before he sped off.

The couple contacted police who immediately began tracing the car and deploying units to the scene.

And it wasn’t long before one of the car’s occupants gave away their location by using a credit card which had been left inside the vehicle at a service station in Wallsend, before further purchases were made at shops in Heaton and Byker.

Officers then closed in further when the National Police Air Service (NPAS) were drafted in to bring the joyride to a swift conclusion, directing teams from the Force’s Operations Department through Ryton and into Winlaton where the car then stopped on Burn Road.

The eyes in the sky spotted the occupants, aged 25 and 27, abandon the car near a wooded area and make off on foot.

Officers from across the force’s operations department, including the dog section, then pursed the men on foot before they were arrested and taken into custody. They have since been released under investigation.

Superintendent Sam Rennison who leads the Operations Department at Northumbria Police praised the response of all officers involved, including NPAS and the force’s dog section and firearms support unit who helped successfully track and detain the suspects.

“This was an excellent piece of teamwork which achieved a positive outcome,” she said.

“After receiving the initial report of the car being stolen our officers were at the scene within a matter of minutes and tasking colleagues to use all the tools at their disposal for potential sightings.

“Those sightings, coupled with the offenders using a card left inside the vehicle meant we were able to narrow down the area the car was in, and follow its direction of travel. And, with assistance from our colleagues in NPAS we were then able to watch the offenders’ every movement before closing on and bringing the pursuit to a safe and swift conclusion.

“I’d like to thank everyone who attended this incident, it was a real team effort that has resulted in two men being brought into custody.

“I hope this offers reassurance to our communities that we will not tolerate this type of criminality and will use every tactic at our disposal to respond and bring those responsible to justice.”

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