A WITNESS has described the moment three suspected burglars careered into a car while on the run from police.

A manhunt was launched following burglaries in Sible Hedingham and Halstead, leading to a police chase along the A131 towards Braintree.

A police car was struck near High Garrett, then a second car was hit in Braintree before the police lost track of the suspects.

The drama began at 12.05pm on Monday, when neighbours spotted three men trying to break into Andy Fuller’s house in Crouch Green, Castle Hedingham.

They left before taking anything.

Father-of-three Mr Fuller, 43, said: “While I was in the house waiting with the forensic guy the police got a message through on his walkie talkie and it said the people had left Castle Hedingham and moved on to Halstead and got spooked by someone.

“I’m sick of the situation in our area at the moment.”

Essex Police is linking the burglary with one in Beridge Road, Halstead, at 1pm.

Three men were seen getting into a Skoda Octavia and fleeing the scene.

A kitchen window had been prised open and over £1,000 of sentimental jewellery including a Pandora charm bracelet, two games consoles and a HP laptop in a burgundy Jasper Conran case were stolen.

As officers rushed to the scene a Skoda crashed into a police vehicle on the A131 near High Garrett.

It was tracked by a police helicopter to Braintree, where it then struck a Nissan Qashqai near South Street at about 1.15pm.

The officer and member of the public who were driving the vehicles escaped without injury, but there was damage to the front of both cars.

Kelly Lowry, 38, who lives near Skitts Hill, saw the second crash.

She said: “I was walking back from work along South Street towards Tesco at about 1.20pm when I heard a screech as if someone had gone around the corner.

“There was a queue at the traffic lights and this blue Skoda, I remember it because you don’t see many Skodas around anymore, clipped the front of the car that was second in the queue while he was stationary.

“He has completely lost control going around the corner and ripped his own bumper off and damaged the front of the other guy’s car in a split second.

“I thought I was going to be run over, then I heard sirens.”

The Skoda, later discovered to have been stolen from Bedford- shire, was found abandoned in the Tesco car park in New Street at about 2.20pm.

Detective Sergeant Becky Young, of Braintree CID, said: “We are linking the incidents in Castle Hedingham and Halstead to another attempted burglary in Braintree, in which a resident of Wheatley Avenue heard her front door open and close sometime between 2pm and 2.10pm.

"She went to investigate but did not see anyone and nothing was stolen.”

On Wednesday, two men aged in their 20s from Cambridge were arrested in Braintree.

Anyone with information should contact Braintree CID on 101 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111.