A GANG of burglars who travelled 40 miles to raid a retired couple's home in North Yorkshire country town have been jailed for more than 10 years.

Colin Andrew Redshaw, 29, Paul James Donnelly, 35, and David Anthony Cave, 45, dismantled stolen mountain bikes in full view of the bike owner's neighbour, said Michael Bosomworth, prosecuting at York Crown Court.

Police spotted them on their way back to Teesside and they fled at high speed along the A170.

They rammed a police car before crashing at the top of Sutton Bank and despite running off were arrested.

The couple later told police they had moved to Helmsley in North Yorkshire in search of a quiet life and had been considerably upsest by the burglary.

Before jailing the burglars, Recorder Anthony Hawks said: "These are people who travelled from the Teesside area in a stolen car with false numberplates on it, obviously to go into a country town and commit dwelling house burglaries.

"It is a very serious matter."

He described Cave, of Lytton Street, Middlesbrough, as a career burglar and jailed him for five years. Cave was on parole from a 76-month sentence at the time.

Redshaw, of Brough Court, Middlesbrough was jailed for three years and father-of-seven Donnelly, of Bloton Court, Middlesbrough, was jailed for two years and eight months.

All three admitted house burglary. Redshaw was banned from driving for 30 months and Donnelly for 28 months after both admitted aggravated taking of a vehicle without consent.

Mr Bosomworth said on October 24, the trio were in a Ford Fiesta that had been stolen a couple of days earlier.

In a quiet cul-de-sac in Helmsley, they spotted a garage that was linked to a house had its door open and stole three mountain bikes from inside, worth together at least £11,500.

While the owner and his wife were upstairs, they dismantled the bikes so they could get them into the Fiesta and drove off.

But police were on the look-out for the car and when they were spotted, the trio fled at more than 60 mph along the A170 towards Thirsk.

They failed to make the sharp bend at the top of Sutton Bank and crashed.

For Donnelly, Christopher Morrison said he was finding it hard being away from his seven children hard and wanted to apologise to the couple.

For Cave, Kenneth Green said he had spent most of the 21st century in jail.

For Redshaw, Simon Walker said he had physical and mental health problems and wanted to get a legal job on his release.