A number of Lissummon farmers going about a normal day’s work were unexpectedly wrangled into something a little higher octane yesterday (December 30) when suspects in a police pursuit decamped into their fields.
According to an eye-witness, the chase started in the Poyntzpass area at around 4pm yesterday afternoon and ended in Lissummon when a neighbouring farmer, driving a digger, met the fleeing vehicle and “swerved” causing the suspect car to crash into a tree.
The witness claims four suspects then fled the vehicle, making their escape into nearby fields on the Tyrones Ditches Road, of the rural south Armagh townland.
Related: Large police activity in Lissummon after reports of break-ins in area
Speaking to Armagh I, one of those farmers – who preferred to remain unnamed for personal safety – detailed the experience: “The car was up behind him [the digger driver] flashing the lights and beeping the horn trying to get past, but he swerved a bit and run them into the tree.
“Once he saw the blue lights of the police coming up behind then he knew something was going on.
“The police came around the corner then and got out and managed to get one of them into custody and the other three took off running down the field.”
Several farmers, including the one we spoke to, then joined police efforts to find the three escapees alongside a brief appearance from the police helicopter.
He explained: “The police helicopter was out then but it was diverted from a search and rescue in Newcastle and was diverted to here [Lissummon] but it was nearly out of fuel so didn’t have much time left. He circled around but couldn’t see them at all, so next thing they called out the dogs.
“I put a Snapchat up for help to try and find them. A woman rang me then as she had spotted someone with a grey jumper on walking up through a hedge in one of the fields.”
The farmer claims to have then alerted police to the possible whereabouts of the sighted individual and put his quad bike to good use in the process – in expediting the officers to the scene.
“The policeman got on behind me,” he added. “Four or five other officers ran in down through the field and were searching the field.
“We had nearly given up and it was getting darker and darker and then another man rang me and he said he had them in sight about 200m away from where we were.
“They had been hiding in a hedge near the playing fields. I told the police he had them and some police jumped the gates in to where the other man had said they were.
“I had the quad and had time to open the gate and the police man got on behind me and we drove down into the field but light was scarce.”
The farmer explained that the area they were now searching was predominantly bogland; dense, wet and not easily tread.
Eager to continue in their assistance to police, the farmers then provided tractors to illuminate the area.
“We brought tractors around to light up the whole place,” he said. “The policemen got flares down which they shot up into to the air to light it up too.
“We searched for hours for them. It was probably about 8.30pm when we got in. It run on to that late.”
According to the farmer, the three individuals they were searching for were not apprehended that evening.
A PSNI spokesperson confirmed that officers on patrol in the Poyntzpass area at around 2.45pm on Monday December 30, observed a suspicious vehicle.
The driver failed to stop when signalled to do so, leading to a short pursuit by trained officers.
The vehicle, a black Audi S4 Quattro, stopped in the Tyrone’s Ditch area of Newry, and one man was detained.
The 51-year-old was arrested on suspicion of going equipped for burglary and possession of a Class B controlled drug. He remains in custody at this time.
Enquiries are ongoing, and police would appeal to anyone with information in relation to the vehicle and its occupants to contact them on 101, quoting reference 970 of 30/12/24.
