Shane Wear, aged 46, took a Ford Fiesta from a driveway in Ludlow before leading a police officer on a pursuit, culminating in him smashing through the gates of a farm before being arrested.

Shrewsbury Crown Court heard how Wear had only been out of prison for a matter of weeks after being incarcerated for theft and burglary when he stole the car on October 24 last year.

The police were called at about 1.24pm by a woman, saying her home in Dodmore Lane, Ludlow had been burgled, and her daughter’s boyfriend’s car had been taken.

Later that day, a police officer on mobile patrol in the Shropshire/Herefordshire border village of Burford spotted the Fiesta and followed it to nearby Brimfield.

The officer put his blue lights on and observed the Fiesta speed up, with Wear’s driving becoming “erratic”, prosecutor Rob Edwards told the court.