CHILDREN playing along a Swindon road feared for their lives when Hicks's car came hurtling towards them at breakneck speed.

Heather and Harriet Bullock were out with friends at noon on December 29 last year, when a silver Mercedes came speeding down Hawthorn Avenue in Pinehurst.

The sisters, aged 10 and 14, were terrified as the Mercedes crossed grassland at the top of the road.

It then swerving between parked cars as it tried to escape a pursuing police car.

At the time Harriet described it as very frightening and said there were loads of children playing out there when it happened.

The sisters' dad, Steve, 49, said cars were always speeding down the road.

He described it as an accident waiting to happen.

The Mercedes stopped at the end of the road and the driver ran off through bushes.

At about 12.45pm, officers with the help of the police helicopter, traced Hicks hiding in a bush.

Resident Kevin Taylor, 27, of Hawthorn Avenue, who watched the drama unfold, said at the time: "I was outside in the front garden when I heard some screeching. I looked up towards the top of the road and saw a silver Mercedes haring down.

"The person driving it smirked at me when he went past.

"If someone had been in the way they would have definitely been killed."

Lorraine Beale, 34, whose 10-year-old daughter Chana was knocked down by a car along the road two years ago, said every time she hears vehicles speeding she looks out of the window to see whether anyone has been hurt.

A MOTORIST who tried to escape from police by putting his foot down in a high-speed chase is today beginning a nine-month jail sentence.

Gerald Hicks, 33, of Poplar Avenue, was wanted for a burglary when he was spotted by police in Pinehurst.

First he tried to escape officers by speeding down a residential road and then, after driving down a dead-end street, he hid in a bush but was eventually located by the police helicopter.

Hicks was sentenced by Swindon magistrates yesterday after pleading guilty to one charge of commercial burglary, one charge of heroin possession, one charge of careless driving, one of driving while disqualified, and one of driving without insurance.

The court heard that Hicks and an accomplice were wanted by police for a burglary at Burger King on Queen's Drive on November 17.

The pair had broken in to an upstairs office when they were interrupted by a member of staff. Hicks fled the scene and they made off with a video player.

Hicks was then spotted weeks later.

Prosecutor Frank Murphy said: "He was next seen on Wednesday, December 29, by PC Ian Crouch, who was out on police car patrol in Poplar Avenue.

"At about 12.14pm PC Crouch pulled up behind a silver Mercedes and he could clearly see Hicks driving.

"The officer was aware that Hicks was wanted by the police and that he was disqualified from driving and could see him looking at the police car in his rear-view mirror. So he turned on his lights to get him to pull over."

The court heard how Hicks then accelerated from the police at speed through the Pinehurst residential area, before being chased going along Liddington Street to Acacia Grove and into Myrtle Gardens. He then mounted a grass verge into Hawthorn Avenue.

"The police were aware that this was a dead end.

"Hicks alighted from the car and then sped off on foot," Mr Murphy said.

"He was found hiding in a bush before he fled again and was eventually arrested in a back garden.

"This chase happened in a built up area at a time when there were a lot of people around and the roads were wet so it was especially dangerous."

The heroin possession charge arose from a separate police raid.

Hicks was given three months for the burglary, two months for the drug possession and four months for the driving charges.

Sentencing him, chairman of the bench Simon Wolfenden said: "We consider the driving offences to be the most serious of all.

"You put the public at considerable risk and the road conditions aggravated that factor."

Jamie Hill