Man stole car from driver who stopped to help him

A Good Samaritan pulled over after spotting someone sprawled across a road – only for the stranger to leap up, commandeer his vehicle and speed off into the distance.

Martin O’Brien, 36, had been lying flat on his back on a street in Harlow, Essex, on the morning of June 11 last year when the passing motorist decided to check on his welfare and call for an ambulance.

But prosecutor Abdul Hussain told Swansea Crown Court that O’Brien, who “appeared to be under the influence of drink or drugs”, sprang up without warning, sprinted to the man’s car and threw himself behind the wheel. The victim tried to intervene but O’Brien fired up the engine and tore away.

Tracked down two miles away

Police located the vehicle a short distance away with fresh damage to the bodywork and O’Brien still sitting inside. He was detained but refused to give a specimen for analysis. Questioned afterwards, he told officers he had no memory of events and floated the possibility he had experienced a heart attack.

Vanished for months

O’Brien was charged and given a date at Chelmsford court – but never turned up. Nobody knew where he had gone until the following November, when officers were dispatched to a property in the Sandfields area of Port Talbot following reports of trouble at the address.

O’Brien bolted the moment police arrived, sparking a chase through the streets. Once cornered, he became “aggressive and threatening” and had to be physically restrained before he could be handcuffed. A pat-down search uncovered a Stanley-type knife tucked on his person. He later admitted carrying the blade, insisting he had simply been using it to slice up carpets and lino.

History of offending

O’Brien, of Bevin Avenue, Sandfields, Port Talbot, entered guilty pleas to aggravated vehicle taking, failing to provide a sample for analysis, and possession of a bladed article. His criminal record stretches to 32 previous convictions covering 86 separate offences, among them robbery and aggravated vehicle taking.

His representative, David Singh, acknowledged that O’Brien had an “unenviable antecedent record” and accepted that time behind bars was unavoidable. He told the court the pre-sentence report painted a picture of “someone who has had a difficult background, perhaps putting it mildly”.

The sentence

Factoring in one-quarter reductions for his early guilty pleas, the judge handed O’Brien a total of nine months in custody – split into three months for the Essex car theft and six months for the knife offence in Sandfields, running back to back. He must also pay £550 in compensation to the car’s owner. O’Brien will spend up to half the sentence locked up before completing the rest on licence in the community.