A 100MPH dangerous driver who stole from a Cheshire Oaks car dealership was caught by police naked in a caravan park shower block.

Patrick Aaron Boswell, 25, of Little Lane, Wigan, had gone with an accomplice to the Honda Cheshire Oaks site at 9.25pm on September 28, 2019, to steal a £400 exhaust from a Honda Jazz, Chester Crown Court heard on Wednesday, November 18.

A member of the public informed police and they were involved in a high-speed pursuit along the A5117, at speeds up to 100mph near the junctions with the M53 and M56 motorways near Ellesmere Port.

Prosecuting, Myles Wilson said Boswell was driving a BMW, with the accomplice as a passenger, in poor conditions with standing water on the roads.

Boswell also drove through three red lights en route, before braking hard and turning into Common Lane, to the Maryburgh Caravan Park on the outskirts of Frodsham.

Mr Wilson said Boswell and his accomplice abandoned the vehicle to flee on foot. A police helicopter was dispatched and located Boswell in the shower block.

He had taken off all his clothes and was pretending to have a shower, having placed his clothes, along with black latex gloves and a balaclava, into a washing machine.

He was arrested, but his accomplice could not be found.

Inside the car was various equipment used for the theft, including cutting tools and a trolley jack.

Boswell initially denied the offences in police interview, but pleaded guilty to dangerous driving and theft when he appeared before magistrates in October.

Defending, Geoffrey Lowe said the dangerous driving had not resulted in a collision or injury, although that was more by fortune than judgment.

Boswell was a "troubled young man at the time" and had issues including a gambling problem, which had led to the theft.

He had received a 12-month suspended sentence in January for assault causing actual bodily harm, but had been complying with the unpaid work requirement and was keen to do it constructively.

He had also volunteered with The Lighthouse Project charity in Greater Manchester and was addressing the problems he did have.

Justice Michael Leeming said it was a "prolonged" display of dangerous driving on "straight but undulating" roads through which he had put himself, his passenger and the police at risk.

He added he was "just about satisfied" he could suspend a prison sentence.

Boswell was handed a 12-month sentence for the dangerous driving and an additional four months for the theft, with the combined 16-month sentence being suspended for 18 months.

He must complete 20 days of a rehabilitation activity requirement and was banned from driving for 12 months.

All the items used in the theft, including the cutting tools, the trolley jack, the latex gloves and the balaclava, were confiscated as part of a deprivation order.