Thieves removed the window from a house before stealing a BMW X3 and leading police on a 130mph chase.

In the early hours of Tuesday morning, police in Rossendale attempted to stop a BMW X3 as it was leaving Bacup.

The car failed to stop and the driver led police on a chase down the M66 and into Bury, reaching speed of more than 130mph.

Unfortunately the driver evaded police, but officers then made their way to the registered keeper’s address, where they discovered a rear window had been removed from the house so the thieves could gain entry and steal the car keys.

A spokesperson for the police said: “Rossendale rural task force have again been targeting burglars and car thieves over the last couple of nights.

“Part of this involves stopping cars targeted by the thieves in key hotspots.

“Burglaries where entry is forced in order to steal car keys is still an issue for us in Rossendale and in the early hours of the morning we attempted to stop a BMW X3 coming out of Bacup.

“It failed to stop for us and was pursued into the Bury area down the M66 reaching speeds above 130mph.

“Unfortunately it was lost in Bury.

“Officers made straight to the registered keeper’s address who discovered the car had just been stolen and the thieves had actually removed a rear window to gain entry to the house.”

On Tuesday evening, police again targeted a car thief as they attempted to stop a VW Golf (pictured) in Edenfield.

Once again the vehicle failed to stop and was followed into Rawtenstall where three men jumped out of the car and ran into a wood. One man was found and arrested.

The spokesperson added: “We attempted to stop a VW Golf in Edenfield and it failed to stop, being pursued into Rawtenstall where it was abandoned.

“Three males ran off into a thick wooded area with one of them located and arrested for car theft.

“If you own a premium badged vehicle please don’t leave your car keys on display in your house and hide them where they won’t be found.

“We are also again seeing an increase in the theft of Fiesta STs by keyless thefts in the afternoon and early evenings.

“If you own one of these vehicles please consider a good steering lock as they are being stolen within a couple of minutes and not drawing any attention as they aren’t smashing the windows or forcing the door to gain entry.”