A man has been jailed after crashing a stolen car on the A19, narrowly avoiding oncoming vehicles on the opposing carriageway. Liam Ainslie, of Wingate, was spotted driving the stolen Citroen near Castle Eden at around 8pm on July 3 last year. The vehicle was displaying false number plates, and failed to stop when traffic officers illuminated their blue lights. In his attempt to escape, Ainslie reached speeds of more than 130mph before losing control when he made a sudden right turn. Crossing onto the opposing carriageway and mounting the grass verge at high speed, the vehicle came within inches of two oncoming vehicles. Ainslie fled from the car into a nearby field but made it only half a kilometre before noticing the police drone, which had been immediately deployed by pursuing officer PC Hawman, watching his every move from above. Realising any further attempt to evade capture was pointless, Ainslie surrendered to the drone and gave himself up to officers. Following extensive work by PC Johnson of Peterlee A Relief, he was charged with multiple driving offences. Appearing at Durham Crown Court last week, the 35-year-old was found guilty of aggravated vehicle taking, dangerous driving, driving without a licence, and driving without insurance, and was given a 12-month prison sentence. A second man in his 20s was also arrested in connection with the incident but faced no further action.