SMASH-AND-GRAB raiders caused chaos on the A64 as they tried to evade capture at the end of a 100 mph chase, York Crown Court heard.

Part of a stolen Ford Mondeo lifted off the ground as it crashed into the central reservation and hit police cars that were blocking its path near Tadcaster, said Anthony Kelbrick, prosecuting.

The trio inside were heading home to Leeds with their loot from a smash-and-grab raid on a York computer business.

But an eye-witness had earlier given police a running commentary on the burglary by phone from her house overlooking the business, Post Optics, on York Business Park near Poppleton. The thieves had smashed the window with a hammer.

Police were waiting for the raiders as they flashed past the Colton Lane A64 junction at more than 100 mph.

As officers gave chase, other police vehicles closed in from in front and blocked the carriageway near the A659-A64 junction.

Getaway driver Jamie Thompson, 24, of High Park Close, High Park, Leeds, and front-seat passenger Mark Stephen O'Neill, 22, of Cavalier Mews, Cross Green, Leeds, were both jailed for three years and banned from driving for 12 months. O'Neill was also ordered to serve more than 17 months unserved of an earlier sentence, as he was on parole.

Each pleaded guilty to aggravated car snatching and burglary, as did rear-seat passenger Michael Thomas O'Reilly, 21, of Londesborough Terrace, East End Park, Leeds. His case was adjourned for legal reasons.

Catherine Silverton, for Thompson, and Michael Collins, for O'Neill, said the burglary was a spur of the moment decision. Miss Silverton said one of the group, not Thompson, had had to get out of Leeds for domestic reasons, which was why they had taken the car.

Updated: 10:53 Saturday, July 12, 2003