Destination jail for a disastrous thief
Jul 22 2008 by Sam Wonfor, The Journal
A DESPERATE thief left a trail of destruction after stealing a patrol car from a police station to drive himself home.
Matthew Drummond grabbed the car keys and a jacket from the Morpeth station in Northumberland and set off in the car for Berwick – almost immediately crashing into a parked Honda and a Jeep, damaging all three vehicles.
He then stole cash from another parked car and used the money to pay for a bus ride to Newcastle, where he tried unsuccessfully to board a train at the city’s Central Station.
The 31-year-old then made a failed attempt to hijack a Newcastle College student’s Corsa car as she looked for a parking space before he successfully drove off in another woman’s Peugeot 206 after snatching the keys from her hand.
And when he reached the Seaton Burn turn for the A1 as he headed back north, he crashed into another car, again causing damage and causing the woman driver to suffer whiplash.
Drummond fled and broke into another car at nearby Seaton Burn Travel Lodge before he was finally arrested, Newcastle Crown Court was told.
The litany of disaster occurred after Drummond was released on bail last April in the early hours after being questioned at Bedlington Station about an incident he was alleged to have been involved in.
He had been expecting a lift back to Berwick, but instead there was a delay at Morpeth because there was concern he was ill and it was decided to wait for a police van rather than a car to take him home and it was then he took matters into his own hands.
Sarah Guest, prosecuting, said: “He got through the just-closing barrier gate and went into the police station and took a set of keys for a police vehicle and a jacket and then drove the vehicle away.” Drummond, of St Andrew’s Road, Berwick, admitted offences of aggravated vehicle taking, common assault, theft and attempted theft.
He was jailed for 23 months and part of a previous suspended jail term was activated to run consecutively.
Passing sentence, Judge Beatrice Bolton told him: “I accept on this day you expected to get a lift home but because you were ill, police were not prepared to take you in their police vehicle and they were waiting for a van.
“You apparently went off in a huff. It may well be you were desperate to get home, but to behave in the way you did was appalling.
“I am told one of the reasons for your offending is you don’t think things through properly. Well, that is patently obvious.”
John Elvidge, defending, said Drummond made the decision to take the patrol car for the sole purpose of getting back to Berwick. “It was a disastrous and increasingly desperate attempt to do so,” he told the court.
