A 19-YEAR-OLD man from Uxbridge stole a top-of-the-range Mercedes but later dumped it because it would not go faster than 40mph, a court heard.

Kieran Grinter, of Mill Avenue, pleaded guilty to stealing the £23,000 car from a house in North Park, Gerrards Cross, Bucks, on June 23 last year.

He also pleaded guilty to burglary and asked to have the burglary of another house in North Park and two offences of allowing himself to be carried in stolen vehicles taken into consideration.

Louise Fanshaw, prosecuting, told Aylesbury Crown Court last Friday how the defendant drove with three accomplices from the London area to Gerrards Cross with the intention of stealing a car which they later planned to sell.

Miss Fanshaw told the court Grinter told police he had waited outside the house where he was given the keys to the Mercedes.

The defendant later dumped the car when he could not get it to go faster than 40mph due to a mechanical fault.

Charles Wells, mitigating, told the court that the defendant had been the only one of the four-man gang to get arrested after he had been persuaded to get involved through his deception to get money to feed his then crack habit.

Judge Roger Connor sentenced Grinter, who had previous convictions, to two years and five months detention at a Young Offenders Institution for burglary and 12 months concurrent for theft.

April 30, 2003 11:30