Heavy police presence near Northampton park after man allegedly crashes stolen van and tries to hide in nearby multi-storey

A heavy police presence involving a number of cars and a helicopter was spotted near Becket's Park today (January 14).

Many witnesses have contacted the Chronicle and Echo today to say they saw a white van had crashed into bollards at Beckets Park, off Victoria Promenade, surrounded by multiple police cars and a police cordon in place around nearby St John's Multistorey car park.

It is now understood the incident involved a man who allegedly crashed a stolen van into the park bollards before trying to escape police by hiding in St John's at around 11.30am today.

The chase also saw the stolen white van being driven the wrong way down Abington Street.

A police spokeswoman said: "This incident began when a white Mercedes Sprinter was stolen from High Street, Wootton, between 8.30pm on January 12 and 7.50am on January 13.

"Today, the van was tracked and after a very short pursuit, a man got out and tried to run in the St John's car park area.

"Unluckily for him, we had a dog and the dog got him."

It is now understood that the police cordon has been lifted and the man has been arrested.