Three arrests after thieves use stolen car to smash through gate

Shortly after 4am yesterday, Tuesday, June 16, officers received a report that a vehicle had smashed through the gates of Station Garage in East Boldon.

Officers found a group had entered the compound and stolen two cars – one of which was used to smash through the gate.

Police traced one of the vehicles and followed it until it was abandoned off Viewforth Terrace in Sunderland.

Officers detained a man and two women matching the occupants’ descriptions nearby after a chase on foot. They were arrested on suspicion of burglary and taken into custody.

Detective Sergeant Cheryl Bainbridge, who is in charge of the investigation, said: “This was a case of fantastic teamwork between various departments in order to track down three suspects and get them into custody.

“This is clearly a very serious incident that saw vehicles stolen from a business premises and driven away. Thankfully, a member of the public heard the crash as one of the cars came through the gates and quickly contacted police.

“That allowed us to deploy significant resources to the area – and enquiries allowed us to later identify one of the vehicles believed to have been involved, which we found abandoned in the Fulwell area.

“I would like to thank the officers who followed their instinct and worked together to successfully arrest three suspects and our enquiries into this incident will continue over the coming days.

“We would now ask anybody who witnessed anything suspicious in the area, or who has information about the break-in, to come forward and get in touch with us as soon as possible.”

The three people arrested, a 17-year-old man and two women aged 32 and 30, have since been released under investigation.Enquiries are ongoing to trace the second vehicle involved, a dark-coloured Ford Fiesta. Anyone travelling in the area yesterday morning is asked to check their dashcam footage for anything suspicious concerning a vehicle of that description.

Anyone with information should contact 101, use the ‘Tell Us Something’ page of the Northumbria Police website, quoting log 95 160620, or email [email protected]

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