POLICE are hunting a hit-and-run driver who could have killed a little girl when he sped round the corner of her street in a stolen car.

Katie Carmel, five, was playing with her friends while her mother, Samantha, stood in the garden of her Stockton home.

The Roseworth Infant School pupil stepped into the road as the young motorist accelerated up Ebchester Close, in Hardwick, at about 4pm on Thursday.

"The car roared past us, then we heard the screech of brakes, then we heard screaming," said Miss Carmel.

"Katie is very, very lucky she didn't go right under the wheels."

Miss Carmel said the young, dark-haired driver got out of the car and repeatedly said that it was not his fault and that Katie had run out into the road.

Neighbours called an ambulance and advised the young man to move the car so it could get through.

He pulled forward then drove off.

Katie was taken to the University Hospital of North Tees, in Stockton, where she had three stitches to her head and was treated for scrapes on her back and elbow.

Miss Carmel said: "It could have been far worse and I would like to see him caught for this.

"He must have realised the authorities were on their way and didn't want to stick around."

Cleveland Police want to talk to the driver of the red Vauxhall Nova, registration G106 RVK, which was stolen from the Saltney Road, Norton, on the night of July 4.

The dark-haired man was accompanied by a young woman.

Anyone with information is asked to call police on (01642) 326 326.