A nationwide search is underway for a 12-year-old boy who is accused of stealing a BMW and driving it for 40 miles.
The boy, who was aged 11 at the time, was charged with theft of a motor vehicle of value unknown, driving it dangerously and handling stolen goods, namely a caravan, after being arrested last year.
He was due to appear at a magistrates court last week but failed to attend.
Officers have now launched a country-wide search for the boy and have issued an arrest warrant for the fugitive.
The 4×4 car, which allegedly had cloned number plates and disappeared from a caravan holiday park in Thirsk.
The boy is accused of towing the caravan for 40 miles along the A1M in North Yorkshire before being apprehended by police.
No one was injured in the incident.
A spokesman for the court said: ‘A juvenile was due to appear before Harrogate magistrates charged with theft of a motor vehicle of value unknown, driving it dangerously and handling stolen goods, namely a caravan.
‘The defendant has not attended and an arrest warrant has been issued.’
The alleged theft of the caravan from a holiday site near Thirsk took place on March 7 last year.
The caravan’s owner Janine Forth posted the next day on Facebook: ‘We arrived at the caravan site just as they had hitched it up and were driving away with it.
‘If it [hadn’t] been for quick thinking and the amazing response from the police, god knows what would have happened.’
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