This is the moment a fugitive tries to hide in a HOT TUB after leading police on a death-defying 80mph chase the WRONG WAY down a dual carriageway.

Jay Hursham, 23, clambered into the jacuzzi as armed cops tracked him down to a family's back garden following his role in a savage machete-wielding attack.

A police helicopter's thermal camera shows Hursham being hauled out of the hot tub as officers train their rifles on him.

Hursham was one of three thugs who earlier led cops on a high-speed chase after they left a man for dead in a savage assault.

The trio were caught on camera driving at 80mph the wrong way down the A127 near Brentwood - causing lorries and cars to swerve to avoid a collision.

Hursham and his accomplices - Bradley Dulieu, 22, and Talliq Mwalim, 20 - had launched a horrific assault just hours earlier.

The thugs wielded machetes as they attacked a man in his 20s, leaving him with life-changing injuries in South Ockendon just after midnight on July 1, 2020.

This week, they were jailed for a total of 57 years.

Dramatic helicopter footage shows Hursham, Dulieu and Mwalim as they fled in a grey BMW X5 while being pursued by police.

Echo: Jay Hursham, 23, clambered into the jacuzzi as armed cops tracked him down. Picture: Essex Police/SWNSJay Hursham, 23, clambered into the jacuzzi as armed cops tracked him down. Picture: Essex Police/SWNS

Traffic cops shunted into the car, bringing it to a halt in a residential area of Upminster, East London.

Dulieu, who was driving, was arrested in the car, while Mwalim was arrested after a short foot chase.

Hursham made off over residents’ fences and through their gardens before trying to hide inside a hot tub.

Armed officers, guided by a police helicopter, surrounded the hot tub and pulled Hursham out where, covered in blood, he was arrested.

Echo: Jay Hursham, 23, clambered into the jacuzzi as armed cops tracked him down. Picture: Essex Police/SWNSJay Hursham, 23, clambered into the jacuzzi as armed cops tracked him down. Picture: Essex Police/SWNS

Following a trial at Basildon Crown Court, on 20 December last year Hursham and Mwalim were convicted of attempted murder, while Dulieu was found guilty of GBH with intent.

At the same court yesterday, Monday 28 March, Hursham, of South Ockendon, was sentenced to 24 years in prison, Mwalim, of Upminster, was jailed for 23 years, and Dulieu, 22, of Dagenham, was given 10 years in prison