A burglar has been jailed for 18 months and banned from driving after he drove almost double the speed limit and the wrong way round a roundabout.

Kalvin Allen was jailed for his part in a burglary at a house in Billericay Road, with a windor being forced open but nothing stolen.

Allen, 24, was jailed in March this year, for his part in a burglary on Billericay Road, Herongate, in which a  window had been forced open but nothing was stolen.

Shortly before the burglary, witnesses had seen two men get out of a dark car while the driver – later identified as Allen - waited outside.

The following day, officers spotted a stolen Vauxhall Insignia in the Ongar and Abridge area. It had been stolen from a house in Timberlog Lane, Basildon, on 8 January.

They attempted to stop the car but it carried on and was seen driving 50mph in a 30mph zone before driving the wrong way around a roundabout.

It drove through stationary traffic, damaging two other vehicles, and narrowly avoided two police officers who were on foot patrol in the area at the time and attempted to stop it, before crashing into a railing in Pettits Lane, Romford.

The occupants were arrested, including Allen, of Dereham Place, Romford.  

He pleaded guilty to the burglary in Herongte, aggravated taking of a vehicle without the owner’s consent, two counts of driving while disqualified, and two counts of driving without insurance when he appeared at Basildon Crown Court on 29 May.

Allen was jailed for a total of 18 months, which included six months for breaching a suspended sentence.

He was also banned from driving for 21 months and cannot drive until he has passed an extended driving test.

PC Jonathan Stephenson, of Brentwood CID, said: “Kalvin Allen was not only involved in a burglary - which is an invasive and distressing crime - but he put people at risk through the manner of his driving while trying to evade police.”