Police find 11-year-old boy towing caravan stolen from Thirsk

 An 11-year-old boy was found behind the wheel of a BMW X5 pulling a caravan stolen from Thirsk down the motorway.

Police say they were “staggered” to make the discovery after stopping the vehicle yesterday.

North Yorkshire Police received a call that a caravan had been stolen from a holiday site near Thirsk at about 3.30pm yesterday and was being towed away by a black BMW.

Officers were able to track the BMW, that was also using cloned registration plates, travelling south on the A1.

About 45 minutes after the caravan was reported stolen, police stopped the vehicle on the M1 after it left the A1 at Hook Moor Interchange near Garforth.

A police spokesperson said: “Nothing prepared us for finding the schoolboy sat at the wheel.”

A search of the car also revealed equipment typically used by suspects to carry out thefts and a selection of vehicle registration plates.

The boy was arrested on suspicion of a number of offences including theft, burglary, going equipped for theft, and motoring offences including dangerous driving.

He was questioned and has been released on conditional police bail to allow further enquiries to be carried out.

The spokesperson added: “Thanks to the quick work of our skilled roads policing officers, our control room and intelligence team working in the background, the rightful owners have been updated that their caravan had been found.

“No-one was injured during the incident. ”

Police say they have seen an increase in caravan thefts across North Yorkshire recently.

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