A criminal who stole a minibus to drive home from prison just 20 minutes after his release has been placed back behind bars for another 10 months.
Gerard Graham was “too impatient” to wait the 20 minutes for a bus back to the city, Aberdeen Sheriff Court was told.
And he was worried about missing the security and welfare prison had offered him, his defence agent has claimed.
He had been freed from HMP Grampian for no more than 20 minutes when he stole the taxi from a petrol station on Buchan Way in Peterhead.
He abandoned the vehicle 30 miles away in Aberdeen but left the crucial clue to his identity behind.
And it wasn’t the end of his ineptitude.
He next stole his ex-girlfriend’s car and left another damning piece of evidence behind – his prison travel voucher, containing his name and release date.
‘Absolutely insane’ behaviour
Graham’s own lawyer, Alex Burn, branded the crime spree “absolutely insane” before adding: “I don’t wish to be disparaging to Mr Graham, however, this is perhaps some of the most inept and unsophisticated criminal behaviour I have ever seen.
“It’s absolutely insane. This was something that was not thought out. It was not planned.”
Fiscal depute Lucy Simpson told Aberdeen Sheriff Court the taxi’s owner was paying for fuel when Graham jumped in and drove off on October 28 last year.
“The owner’s phone was still within the taxi so, using a tracking feature, he was able to locate the direction of travel of the vehicle,” she said.
“Police searched for the accused using that information. He travelled from Peterhead to Aberdeen and officers saw the vehicle travelling on Maberly Street but lost sight of it.”
Officers found the taxi abandoned on Charlotte Street at 6.30pm, around an hour after it was stolen.
Taxi was badly damaged
It sported a broken window, damaged wing mirrors, dents and scratches – and Graham’s release papers from the South Road prison.
Meanwhile, Graham was breaching his bail conditions by paying a visit to his ex-partner before making off, unbeknown to her, with her car.
She woke the next morning to news Graham had taken the vehicle and left it parked up in the Bedford Road area – with his prison release travel voucher, containing his name and release date, lying on the driver’s seat.
Graham was eventually traced in Millbank Lane the following morning, in possession of a stolen bicycle he told officers he’d found on Craigie Street.
He pled guilty to six charges, including two thefts of a vehicle, driving without a licence, driving without insurance, theft of a bike and breaching bail conditions.
Previously wanted to be in prison
Sheriff Andrew Miller previously called for background reports and a restriction of liberty order assessment to be carried out, and Graham has now appeared back in court to be sentenced.
Defence agent Laura Gracie said Graham had engaged well with social workers for this report and had offered up a “shift in his thinking” which made him really want his liberation.
She said: “He had previously committed offences purposely to get taken into custody because that gives him a stable place to stay, a roof over his head and meals every day.
“He is now asking for a chance from your lordship to see if he can sort himself out with the assistance of the social work department.”
However, Sheriff Miller said Graham’s apparent wish to address his offending and engage with social workers had not been backed up by the “outrageous nature” of his reoffending just 20 minutes after his early release.
He ordered Graham, a prisoner at HMP Grampian, to serve a further 10 months of his unexpired sentence concurrent with an added 123 days for the latest offences.
He also banned him from the roads for 18 months.
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