Three arrested in Brighton after police stop suspected stolen car

Three people were arrested after police stopped a suspected stolen car on the Brighton and Hove boundary in the early hours of yesterday (Sunday 26 February).

Sussex Police said that the silver Vauxhall Corsa was first spotted by officers when it was being driven erratically and at high speed in Crawley at about 2.30am yesterday.

An attempt was made to stop the car but it sped away.

About an hour later automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) cameras in Mid Sussex picked it up being driven towards Brighton.

The car was seen again in Dyke Road Avenue, Brighton, where police used a number of vehicles to box it in while it was travelling at a slow speed and bring it to a halt.

Two police cars and the Corsa were slightly damaged.

The Corsa driver, an 18-year-old man of no fixed address, was treated for minor injuries at the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton.

He was later discharged and arrested on suspicion of stealing the car, driving dangerously, driving while unfit through drugs and having no driving licence and no insurance.

The teenager was later released on police bail until Thursday 12 April while inquiries continue.

A Sussex Police spokesman said: “Nobody else was hurt. The car is believed to have been stolen from a Redhill, Surrey, address, on Saturday night.”

A 19-year-old woman from Morden in Surrey, who was a passenger in the car, was arrested and later released after accepting a police caution for having cannabis.

Aaron Smith, 20, unemployed, of Copsleigh Avenue, Redhill, also a passenger in the car, was charged with having cocaine and released on police bail.

He is due to appear at Brighton Magistrates’ Court on Friday 30 March.