Police are continuing to hunt for two men after chasing after them in the early hours of this morning. 

Residents in Shalford were woken up at 1am after officers, dog handlers and the force helicopter carried out a search of the area.

An Essex Police spokesman said: “Police are looking to identify the whereabouts of two men following a pursuit in Shalford shortly after 1am.

“Officer had been following a silver Ford Mondeo along Braintree Road before requesting the driver to stop.

“He failed to do so and sped along a number of roads before stopping and running off with his passenger on Church Road.

“A search of the area was conducted.

“They were able to identify the driver and are looking to trace his whereabouts.

“The Mondeo was recovered by police and will now be forensically examined.”

One villager said: “Nothing ever usually happens in our village.
“We had six police cars, the helicopter and police running in and out of gardens.”