An Aberdeen man led police on a chase through gardens after being caught sitting on a motorcycle he had stolen.
The Yamaha YZF-R125 which Liam Clarke took had been chained up in an underground car park at the city’s Stevenson Court, in the Rosemount area, last year.
When officers traced him with the vehicle two days after it was reported stolen, Clarke flung it to the ground and led officers on a frantic chase through peoples’ properties before being caught and cuffed.
The 20-year-old, of Webster Road, admitted a single charge of theft when he appeared at Aberdeen Sheriff Court yesterday.
He stole the motorbike in the early hours of September 17, last year.
Fiscal Katy Begg told the court that the bike owner Drew Barbour had left it near his flat the night before it went missing.
She added: “Two days after he reported the matter, police officers attending an incident at Invercauld Place in Aberdeen saw the accused sitting on the motorbike in question.
“When Clarke saw the officers he immediately got off the bike, removed the helmet he was wearing and fled.
“The accused ran down an alleyway leading to Birkhall Place, throwing the helmet to the ground at that point.
“The pursuit continued through gardens, before the accused was eventually apprehended.”
Clarke’s lawyer, Keidra Morrison, said her client had been taking a lot of “legal high” drugs at the time of the offence.
But she said Clarke had now turned his life around, and is poised to begin a new career working in an ice cream parlour next week.
The defence agent said: “He was going through a really bad stage of taking legal highs and committed a few offences around this period.
“However, the accused has not offended since January, and that is really positive.”
Sheriff Morag McLaughlin agreed it was “encouraging” that Clarke had taken steps to clean up his act.
She deferred sentence on him until January 15.
