Teens flee police in fiesta which veers towards park as 'firearm thrown out'

Two teens who fled from police in a Ford Fiesta travelled over a field towards a children's play area. Jack Huggett and Louis Carlin, who are both 19, were in the car with a third man -

who was wanted by the police - when they failed to stop. Teesside Crown Court has heard that Huggett, who was driving, sped towards the police car, before mounting a kerb and driving off.

Huggett drove down Diamond Road in Thornaby, before turning onto Northallerton Road and then veering off-road across a field, towards Littleboy Park, on Lansdowne Road. On Thursday, Victoria

Lamballe, prosecuting, told the court that witnesses reported seeing "a firearm thrown out of the vehicle" - and officers are still investigating exactly what was discarded.

Huggett was arrested and Carlin was found in The Roundel pub nearby, with a lock knife tucked into his waistband and a bundle of cash. Carlin was later strip searched, and police found 36

small plastic bags containing cocaine, in his underwear. Each bag contained a .2gram deal which the court heard would sell for £20. Police then searched a house on Shetland Avenue in

Thornaby, and found more cocaine and empty grip seal bags, in a brown Gucci bag. Huggett later pleaded guilty to: * dangerous driving; * driving whilst disqualified; * driving with no

insurance. He has previous convictions for wounding, robbery, dangerous driving, drink driving and aggravated vehicle taking. He was released from prison three weeks before his latest

offences. Carlin admitted: * possession of a class A drug with intent to supply; * possession of a bladed article. He is serving a prison sentence for wounding, after he attacked a man with

a meat cleaver in a dispute over a drug debt, in November 2023. In mitigation, Mark Green said that Huggett himself told him that he acted "in a stupid manner" and he knows he

needs to move away from his current peer group: "He accepts there's no point moving back to the same area with the same friends," Mr Green told the court, "the probation

service will help him look for a different area, where he's not known, and he can start afresh." Mr Green said that a probation report found that Carlin has previously been

exploited by other criminals. His current prison term finishes in April 2027. Judge Simon Eckersley told Huggett that he had been convicted of 20 offences by the age of 18. Turning to

Carlin, the judge said: "You were found in a nearby pub carrying a very nasty looking knife. The streets of this country is plagued by people carrying knives, like you. "It's

plain that you are a street level dealer of class A drugs. Those drugs cause misery to those that use them; and misery and tragedy to their families." Huggett, of Shetland Avenue in

Thornaby, was sent to a Young Offender's Institution for 10 months and disqualified from driving for 41 months. Carlin, of no fixed address, was sent to a Young Offenders'

Institution for four years. His sentence will start immediately, meaning his two prison terms will finish at the same time. FOR DAILY NEWS FROM TEESSIDE'S COURTS DIRECT TO YOUR INBOX,

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