A man whose fingerprints and DNA were found in a stolen car has had another three months added on to his stint behind bars.
Henry Hanratty Stephen told police that it was not him but his friends who took the car from outside Spar in Victoria Street, Dyce on January 15, 2015.
He said his DNA was only in it because they picked him up and gave him a lift.
The 33-year-old was facing trial at Aberdeen Sheriff Court for theft of a car and assault and robbery at a city bookmakers on January 20 the same year, as well as failure to appear at a court date.
But due to insufficient evidence, the crown accepted a not guilty plea for the assault and robbery and a guilty plea to the failure to appear and a lesser charge of resetting a stolen vehicle.
Stephen, who is currently serving a three-and-a-half year sentence for a vehicle-related crime, was questioned by police following the theft of the Peugeot 307, the company car of Russell McMurray.
Reading out agreed facts to the jury at the start of what was expected to be a three-day trial, fiscal depute Christopher McIntosh said that Mr McMurray had left his car outside with the engine running and the lights on.
He said: “He went into the shop at 6.50am and then when he returned outside, the car had gone.” It was found later that day dumped in a street in Banff.
Mr McIntosh added: “When asked if it was him in his police interview, the accused said ‘I never took it’. When asked who did take the vehicle, he said ‘no comment’.”
His defence agent Jonathan Crowe told Sheriff Alison Sterling: “He has been employed in a scrap yard when he hasn’t been serving a sentence.
“He’s a single man with a child from a previous relationship. Given the amount of time he has served in custody already and the lesser nature of the charges he has pleaded guilty to, I would ask your ladyship to draw an end to this matter.”
The sheriff handed Hanratty Stephen, of Swannay Square, Aberdeen, a three-month sentence to run consecutively after his current jail term elapses.
