A POLICE officer was "amazed and stunned" to see a getaway car drive at speed towards oncoming traffic along cycle paths and through red traffic lights, a court heard.

A POLICE officer was "amazed and stunned" to see a getaway car drive at speed towards oncoming traffic along cycle paths and through red traffic lights, a court heard.

Ipswich Crown Court was told that the BMW car allegedly driven by armed robbers of a Walton store raced along Felixstowe's A14, on to the A12 towards Woodbridge, and along the 30 mph Martlesham to Ipswich stretch.

"The BMW was travelling at up to 100 mph with no signs of stopping," said Pc Todd who pursued the vehicle in his police car.

He described in a statement, read out in court, that two white men were in the front of the car and a black man was in the back. He said the BMW drove through Kesgrave's 30 mph limit at high speeds often driving on the wrong side of the road towards oncoming traffic.

The car driver ignored red traffic lights it encountered along the road and drove up onto the cycle path opposite Kesgrave High School.

Pc Todd added: "I was amazed, dumbfounded and stunned as it drove onto the cycle path. I could see an adult cyclist ahead."

The BMW eventually ploughed into a shop window in Woodbridge Road, Ipswich. The car driver Paul Cunnington, 30, of The Walk, Felixstowe and Gavin Friston, 30, of The Wheelrights, Trimley St Mary both deny robbery.

However, Ian Brooks, an illegal immigrant from Jamaica has admitted robbing the Alldays store in Walton High Street.

The court heard that on May 16, Brooks walked into the store and threatened store manager Lesley Moore with a sawn-off shot gun. Brooks, 30, of Henniker Road, Ipswich escaped with £45 from the two tills.

Mrs Moore managed to lock herself and another member of staff into an office where they raised the alarm.

The trial continues.