A GANG of raiders rammed a series of police vehicles and the car of a have-a-go farmer and injured a policeman as they raided farms near Malton.

The out-of-county trio stole and abandoned vehicles as they broke into properties in different villages in search of high value tools and other items, said Brooke Morrison, prosecuting.

As police tried to stop them, firearms officers joined in the high speed early morning pursuits, she told York Crown Court.

At one point, Charlie Maurice Dunn, 25, drove with a policeman partly in and partially out of a stolen transit van.

Despite being injured, the police officer continued the pursuit and was not deterred when Dunn twice rammed his vehicle.

By the time the three had been caught and arrested, they had caused £21,100 damage to police vehicles, written off a works van, crashed a stolen BMW and stolen thousands of pounds of tools.

The trio had travelled 60 miles from their homes in the early hours of June 2 before starting the crime spree, York Crown Court heard.

“This was a deliberate conspiracy to target remote areas, remote villages and remote farmhouses,” said the Recorder of York, Judge Sean Morris.

He warned Dunn and fellow raider Jack Setchell, 24, they faced long prison sentences. He warned the third raider, Kieran Connor, 19, that he too was likely to be jailed.

Dunn, of Heathfield Drive, Hartlepool, and Setchell, of Seaton Lane, Hartlepool, were remanded in custody. Connor of Quilstyle Road, Wheatley Hill, Durham, was released on bail. All three will be sentenced at a later date after their barristers give their mitigation.

All three pleaded guilty to one house burglary, three farm building burglaries, one theft of a quad bike and two aggravated taking of vehicles. Dunn and Connor each pleaded guilty to a third aggravated taking of a vehicle and Dunn admitted assaulting a police emergency worker.