Over the years, several criminals in Kent have led police on high-speed pursuits in desperate attempts to escape arrest.

But the hair-raising chases often endanger the lives of innocent civilians, brave officers and those in the vehicle being chased.

From racing over the edge of a 100ft cliff to smashing into gardens, it is clear some will risk anything not to be locked up.

KentOnline has reported on some of the most dramatic police chases over the years thanks to officers and members of the public who captured the alarming footage.

Here we take a look at some of those caught on camera...

Garden destroyed in Gravesend

This was the dramatic moment a car ploughed through a fence and destroyed someone's garden while being chased by police.

Shocking footage shows the vehicle speeding down the alleyways of Perry Street, Gravesend, in October last year before smashing into a family's garden.

The car then attempts to reverse out of the garden as officers, who were close behind, jump out and approach the vehicle.

Before they get there the driver managed to speed off, smashing another fence on the way before making a run for it.

It's a miracle no one was hurt. One to watch to the end!

Learner driver's encounter with fleeing car

A learner driver was given the shock of her life when a car fleeing police raced towards her mid-lesson.

Instructor Darren Willett, of Willett's School of Motoring, captured the moment the vehicle mounted a kerb to get away from police on his dashcam.

He was 30 minutes into a two-hour lesson when his learner driver had no other option than to stop when a silver Subaru car headed straight towards them.

But when the oncoming car was just yards away from hitting the learner vehicle in Cecil Avenue, Sheerness, in August last year it decided to mount the kerb and continue along the pavement - followed by two police cars.

The learner driver was only on her third lesson and unsurprisingly did not feel up to continuing.

An 18-year-old man, from Sheerness, was later arrested on suspicion of dangerous driving, failing to stop, driving without a licence or insurance and possession of cannabis.

Driver plunges off 100ft cliff

A drink-driver raced over the edge of a 100ft cliff during a high-speed police chase.

When officers turned on their blue lights, Mark Johnson-Cooper took off in his Peugeot 207 Sport through deserted Ramsgate streets, reaching speeds of 70mph.

He mounted a grass verge, raced through red lights, and then smashed through metal railings on Victoria Parade, effectively bouncing off the seafront apartments below.

Miraculously, officers found the 35-year-old alive but unconscious in the crumpled wreckage.

He received a 12 month sentence - suspended for two years - was disqualified from driving for three years and ordered to pay £1,000 compensation.

Burglar crashes after tyre explodes

A teenager with an eye-watering 54 offences led police on a high-speed chase before one of his tyres exploded, scattering debris over a dual-carriageway.

The drama unfolded when Rio Duncan burgled a home in Tivoli Park Avenue, Margate, stealing the owners’ car keys at about 12.30am on November 3.

When officers found the stolen Astra at 2.10pm the same day, with Duncan behind the wheel, he took off down the A2 after driving on pavements and illegally overtaking cars.

A tyre exploded as he came off the Barham slip-road, causing him to lose control, hit a grass traffic island and then spin 360 degrees.

Firefighters had to cut the 18-year-old from the written-off Vauxhall before he was arrested by officers.

A judge at Canterbury Crown Court sentenced Duncan, of Sandyhurst Lane in Ashford, to 22 months in a Young Offenders’ Institute and banned him from driving for 35 months.

Thief tries to flee on foot

A bungling burglar from Canterbury who left his balaclava at the scene of a crime led police on a car chase before trying to scamper away on foot.

Daniel D'Age was apprehended in Garlinge, near Ramsgate, after carrying out his third Co-op burglary within the space of four months in August last year.

Witnesses gave a description of the car D'Age had left the scene in at 3am and officers found him travelling along the A256 towards Ramsgate.

Refusing to stop, police started to pursue D'Age has raced through residential streets with parked cars on either side.

But he was soon caught by officers when he was found hiding behind a garden bench after he tried to flee on foot.

Arrested at the scene, he pleaded guilty to three charges of burglary, as well as theft and dangerous driving, at Canterbury Crown Court.

The 35-year-old was jailed for a year.

Thief reverses into lamp post

A serial car thief tried to escape from police at speeds of up to 90mph after officers attempted to stop him.

Cobaine Holden stole three different cars from separate Gillingham homes and was arrested on April 23.

He and his accomplice were tracked down and officers attempted to stop them in London Road, Greenhithe, within an hour of them stealing two vehicles from a home in Twydall.

Holden sped off and was pursued by police with assistance from a helicopter until he was detained in Eltham 15 minutes later after reversing into a street lamp.

The 23-year-old, from Littlehampton, West Sussex, pleaded guilty at Maidstone Crown Court to three counts of burglary, two of theft of a motor vehicle, two attempted burglaries, aggravated vehicle taking and possessing a knife. He was sentenced to three years and six months in prison.

Stinger stops dangerous driver

A reckless teenage driver led police on a high-speed chase while disqualified from driving.

Jordan McGrath-Coulstock was spotted behind the wheel of a Mercedes in New Road, East Malling.

Officers knew he was disqualified from driving, but could not apprehend him as he was in traffic heading in the opposite direction.

A short while later while searching for the banned motorist, the same officers became suspicious of an uninsured Ford Mondeo in Chapman Way.

McGrath-Coulstock was driving and he immediately tried to get away from the officers, setting off a chase which saw him recklessly travel along rural and town centre roads.

But police deployed a stinger in St Leonard's Street, puncturing his tires and he was eventually boxed in on a roundabout.

He was later sentenced to 54 weeks in jail.

Seat-swapping driver is caught

A driver swapped seats with a passenger - in the middle of a police chase through a built-up area in Gravesend.

Father-of-three Olumuyiwa Rhoomes, 33, climbed into the rear of the Hyundai Tucson as a friend took the wheel.

Rhoomes was spotted at the wheel of the uninsured car heading towards Gravesend in October 2019 before speeding away from police - driving at speeds of 55mph in a 30mph area.

The vehicle then overtook other vehicles without slowing before clipping a kerb at a roundabout as it turned along Wrotham Road.

He then overtook another vehicle, veering onto the wrong side of the road towards oncoming traffic, before swerving back at the last minute - almost colliding with an innocent bystander.

He then slowed to about 30 to 40 mph and officers saw him climb into the back of the car, leaving it without anyone at the wheel before a passenger got into the driver's seat and stopped the vehicle.

Rhoomes admitted dangerous driving and was disqualified from driving for 43 months and was jailed for 14 months in January.

Cops ram carjackers

Two violent carjackers who stole a terminally ill driver's BMW were caught when a traffic cop "rammed" them off the road.

The victim was behind the wheel when he noticed a black Fiat Punto following him in Seaford, East Sussex.

But when he pulled up outside a shop the passenger got out and demanded he hand over the car.

When he refused he was violently dragged out of the driver's seat before the thief, who was almost one-and-a-half times over the limit, drove off with the Fiat following in November 2018.

But police spotted the pair in convoy and gave chase before Thomas Munday - behind the wheel of the BMW - turned into a petrol station in a bid to turn around and speed off in the opposite direction.

But Munday was thwarted when police made "tactical contact" to stop him.

Munday jumped out of the BMW and ran to the Fiat, which was waiting nearby, but police rammed the Fiat to stop it from being driven away.

Munday ran off, as did the Fiat driver Billy Draper, 22, who was out on licence from prison for his part in an attempted burglary in Maidstone - but both were caught by officers.

The pair were both jailed, Munday for five years and Draper, from Maidstone, for six.

To get the latest updates in ongoing cases, police appeals and criminals put behind bars, click here.

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