Teenage joyrider given suspended jail term after BMW found on its roof Fenland ditch

A teenager who ‘put lives at risk’ when he took his stepdad’s BMW, driving at 155mph and doing ‘donuts’ in a car park before crashing it into a hedge has been brought to justice.

Robbie Aird, 19, drove the black BMW 3 series off the driveway of his mother’s home at just after 11pm on 23 August last year.

Following a search of the Chatteris and Warboys area, officers found the car on its roof in an eight-foot ditch with the air bags deployed at just before 1am.

The car was empty and officers began searching for the occupants, but paramedics were then called about two injured people in a house nearby claiming they had been in a collision.

Officers found Aird with his girlfriend at a house just 50 yards from the collision – both covered in blood and soaking wet.

In interview he admitted being the driver of the car – and also admitted taking a vehicle without consent in a previous incident when he took his mother’s white Range Rover at just before 1am on 28 July last year.

On this occasion Aird drove on the A14 towards Cambridge to pick up some friends, stopping at Swavesey services.

While at the services, he allowed three friends to drive the car and the group then drove to Cambridge, each taking it in turns to get behind the wheel. The Range Rover was later returned without any damage.

He also described driving the BMW at speeds of more than 155mph on at least one occasion as well as doing “doughnuts” in a car park.

At Cambridge Magistrates’ Court on 24 February, Aird, of Ridgeway, Eynesbury, St Neots, admitted aggravated vehicle taking, dangerous driving, driving without insurance, driving without a licence and taking a motor vehicle without consent.

He was sentenced at Cambridge Crown Court yesterday (11 October) where he was handed 10 months in prison, suspended for two years. He was also disqualified from driving for two years and ordered to complete 125 hours of unpaid work and a 15-day rehabilitation activity requirement.

DC Kieran Wickens, who investigated, said: “Aird may have thought taking these vehicles was just a bit of fun, but the simple fact is he put other people’s lives at risk.”