Burley gift shop hold-up was start of a high-speed chase

The drama began after plucky Patricia Kirk had been viciously hit on the head with a wrench when she refused to hand over the day's takings at her gift shop. The villain fled to waiting car which eventually was involved a spectacular crash with three other vehicles. It was shortly after 2.30pm on September 27, 1988, when Mrs Kirk, 49, was alone in the Goldilocks gift shop in the Country Life village of Burley as a stranger walked in and demanded cash.

Defiant, she was struck with the tool and bundled into a store room, but her screams were heard by her neighbour who spotted the robber running towards a blue Citroen. As the vehicle accelerated through narrow country lanes and onto the A35 that links Bournemouth and Southampton, police went in pursuit - by road and by air - after the Scout spotter plane had been launched. With this speed touching 100 mph, the fugitive avoided detection for 11 minutes before it was located by the aircraft.

Crash scene. (Image: Echo) As the chase intensified, it was involved in two crashes with the police - firstly at Minstead and then a few minutes later at Rhinefield Crossroads where motor cyclist Chris Bowen was hurled from his machine and sustained shoulder injuries. The manhunt eventually ended after the car, hurtling towards Christchurch, was involved in a four vehicle pile-up in Ringwood Road, Walkford.

The Citroen crashed head on into two cars before struck in the rear by a police car. The occupants of both private vehicles suffered shock and bruising and a police officer was sustained shoulder injuries. A 26-year-old man from Thornhill, Southampton, was arrested at the scene and was taken to Lymington police station for questioning.

"Mrs Kirk sustained a head wound which required some stitches and she was kept in Lymington hospital overnight for observation," said a police spokesman. "Pc Bowen was treated for a shoulder injury before being discharged." It was not the only major incident that day. A few minutes after the abortive Burley raid, there was an attempted robbery at the Forest Stores sub-post office, Cadnam, where two men tried to grab money a garage proprietor was handing over the counter.

The victim was unhurt, despite being floored, and the robbers fled empty handed in a cream-coloured Peugeot in the direction of Ower. And in Southampton, a high-speed pursuit ended when a stolen car crashed into a betting shop, causing the city centre to be cordoned off for more than four hours as rescue services coped with the devastation. Burley. (Image: Echo)

The drama began shortly after dawn on May 30, 1987, when police began shadowing an estate car stolen from outside Hampshire. One attempt to detain the driver was foiled when he mounted a pavement to evade a road block. There followed a terrifying pursuit at speed up to 100mph through the city centre streets until he lost control at the junction of New Road and Civic Centre, smashed into railings, bounced off a wall, spun and finally crashed into the Ladbrokes betting shop.

"Glass and other debris has gone about 30 feet into our shop," said district manager Frank Stevenson, surveying the devastation. "The car smashed through the front of the shop, knocking out all the glass and metal.

It will cost over GBP5,000 to put right."

Amazingly, the thief, who had ben cut out of the wreck, escaped serious injury. "He was incredibly lucky," said one fireman who attended the scene.