A Fife thief roared off with a hot hatch on a test drive petrol stop in a bid to fund the expensive tastes of his young girlfriend.
Edward Laing from Kinross left bewildered car seller James McMahon stranded at a roadside filling station when he sped away in his turbocharged Vauxhall Astra VXR.
Alloa Sheriff Court heard the 33-year-old had hatched a scheme to pay for his “disastrous” relationship with the girlfriend “who was the focus of this offence”.
Laing had contacted Mr McMahon who had advertised a car for sale on the Internet.
He was told the car was sold, but then said he would like to view another car the seller had.
After the pair met at Mr McMahon’s home in Alloa they agreed to a test drive in the souped-up 2007 motor, which the court was told was one of the fastest in its class.
Laing left a VW Passat, which he had arrived in, outside Mr McMahon’s house, and the pair set off.
Adrian Fraser, prosecuting, said that at a filling station on the A907 between Alloa and Stirling, they stopped to put in petrol.
Laing gave Mr McMahon money to pay for the petrol, and began filling the car up from the pump while Mr McMahon went to the cash desk.
But when Mr McMahon turned to go, he saw his car being driven off “at speed” by Laing.
Mr Fraser said: “The owner was a bit confused, and thought maybe it was to do with the test drive, but that wasn’t the case, and the accused didn’t return at all.
“He had left his own motor vehicle at Mr McMahon’s home address, so it was altogether a bit of an odd state of affairs.”
Mr Fraser said police carried out extensive checks on DNA from the accused’s car, while Mr McMahon put out an appeal on Facebook for the missing vehicle.
He received a tip-off and Laing was traced.
The Vauxall was eventually recovered from a compound in London.
Mr Fraser said its distinctive black decals had been torn off the doors, damaging the paintwork, two of its alloy wheels had been badly scuffed, and its turbocharger was blown and had to be replaced.
Altogether, it cost £5,000 to return the car to the condition in was in before Laing stole it.
Laing, of Mill Street, Kinross, pleaded guilty to stealing the car and driving it without insurance.
Referring to a background report, defence solicitor Ian Bryce told the court that Laing had been “in a low mood and in a disastrous relationship” at the time of the offence, which occurred in May 2015.
He added that Laing was no longer in a relationship with her, but was living with a former partner in Kinross, whom he described as having “a pro-social lifestyle”.
Sheriff Linda Smith ordered Laing to carry out 240 hours of unpaid work as part of a community payback order, imposed a three months 9pm to 7am curfew under a restriction of liberty order, placed him under social work supervision for 18 months, and endorsed his licence for the insurance offence.
She told him: “This took some level of planning and some degree of intention. You should be in no doubt that you could have faced a custodial sentence.”
Laing refused to comment as he left the court.
