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Police have released video footage of a terrifying 97mph pursuit which ended when the car flipped into a field in County Durham - while a four-year-old boy was inside.

Remarkably no-one was hurt when 23-year-old Scott Tony Smith’s MG ZT careered off the road and somersaulted into a field.

An officer in a marked BMW police traffic car spotted Smith and began pursuing him along residential roads on the outskirts of Stanley at lunchtime on October 29.

In the pursuit, which lasted almost three minutes, Smith hurtled through the villages of The Middles and Craghead, dodging in front of cars to overtake and even mounting the pavement to pass through temporary traffic lights which were red.

But after narrowly passing a van at about 80mph on a country lane, the car never steadied and Smith was unable to negotiate a T-junction, sending his car through a hedge and flipping it over.

The police car’s on-board camera, which recorded speeds of 97mph as the driver attempted to pursue Smith, captured the terrifying crash.

A four-year-old boy was found to be unrestrained in the car, along with a woman and Smith, the driver.

A source said the police driver was stunned that no-one was badly hurt.

He pleaded guilty at Durham Crown Court to dangerous driving, driving while disqualified and a child cruelty charge, a court official said.

Smith, from Stanley, will be sentenced next month.

On Durham Police’s Facebook page for the Stanley area, an officer explained that the police pursuit would have been called off had the driver known there was a child in the speeding car.

Officers had been tipped off by locals about uninsured drivers speeding in the area.

The trained police driver who followed the MG was constantly assessing the risk in pursuing, a source said.

The Facebook post said: “The footage of this police pursuit has been released, as it is important to show people that we will act on the information concerned members of the public pass to us in confidence.

“People who drive in a dangerous manner whilst disqualified and uninsured put other road users’ lives at risk and need to be brought to justice.

“The officer in the patrol vehicle was unaware that there was a child in the vehicle until after the incident came to an end, he was also a highly experienced advanced driver who would have aborted the pursuit if he felt the risks were too high.

“Nobody was injured in this incident.”