BY IAN CROUCH

Police are again urging residents to lock up at night and keep car keys out of sight after 3 vehicles were stolen from a Hamilton South home early Tuesday morning.

Officers were called to reports of persons on premises in Pulver Street just before 3.00am, arriving to find a black Jeep being driven from the home.

They gave chase, with the vehicle losing a wheel and crashing on Charlestown Road near the Newcastle Inner City Bypass.

The driver, believed to be a male in his mid-teens, fled while his passenger, a 13-year-old girl from Brewarrina, was arrested.

She’s been dealt with under the Young Offenders Act.

Police later found a white Lancer from the Hamilton South home, while a Volkswagen Tiguan remains outstanding,