A Sheerness man, pursued by police along three different motorways in a stolen £20,000 top-of-the-rang Mini Cooper he claims his nephew paid him £150 to deliver, has dodged prison.
Builder John McIlroy, 37, of Buckthorne Road, Minster-on-Sea was followed by officers on the M25, M26 and M20 as he drove the 148 mph vehicle.
He was convicted by a Croydon Crown Court (pictured) jury of dishonestly handling the stolen 208 horsepower red John Cooper Works Mini on November 26, last year.
Judge William Barnett QC sentenced McIlroy to 200 hours community service and ordered him to pay £500 costs.
McIlroy claims he was persuaded when short of cash to drive the car to a garage and did not know it was stolen.
“This was a motor car of considerable value and you contested this case,” Judge Barnett told the defendant.
“I suspect it was earlier than when you received police attention that you became suspicious and it was wishful thinking on your part that there was not something unlawful about the car.
“You were essentially conned by a member of your family into doing this and you have now fallen out with that member of the family who preyed on you because of your lack of money.
“You were to drive it to this garage and get one hundred and fifty pounds, which in fact you never did get.”
No comments:
Post a Comment