A FLEEING suspect put villagers in a spin as he ran through a garden hotly pursued by police and tracker dogs.

Bewildered Kempsey folk watched in amazement as he tried to shake police off his tail by bursting through a fence, cutting down an alleyway and crouching in trees.

Mary Tombs was picking flowers yesterday when the man broke through the fence at the bottom of her garden and asked her if he could come through.

She then saw him dash down an alley with a posse of police officers in hot pursuit.

"I was just looking at my roses when I heard the fence breaking," the 55-year-old said. "I saw two legs coming through and thought perhaps it was some kids, but this man came running across."

Mrs Tombs, of Old Vicarage Close, said the man, who looked as if he was aged between 25 and 28, stopped to ask if he could come through because some lads were chasing him to beat him up.

"He went down the side of the house through the gate, across the lawn and hid behind the conifers," she said.

"He shot across the main road and down an alley, with police and tracker dogs following behind.

"I heard afterwards there'd been a robbery and he was doing a runner.

"I was shocked when I realised what was going on as I thought 'he could have beaten me up'."

Neighbour Betty West said she saw the man, who wore a blue and white striped T-shirt run down Old Vicarage Close, across the road and down the alley towards Meadow Close.

"The police came minutes after, got the dog out and went down the alley. Other police rushed to

Vicki Davies said there had not been a robbery but police had been making a routine check on a vehicle that the man had been known to drive.

"He was spotted on parts of the motorway and in Kempsey," she said.

"I don't know what the man was wanted in connection with and cannot confirm what resources were sent out."