An on-the-run car thief stole a yacht and sailed 70 miles across the Moray Firth to escape from police.
Cathal Mathew jumped aboard the 24ft vessel Tradewind when he realised officers were closing in on him before steering it out of a tiny harbour and heading north.
The 28-year-old – who had no seafaring experience – made it as far as the waters off Caithness before staring to panic and setting off a distress flare.
He was eventually arrested five days later after being picked by an offshore standby boat and brought back to shore.
And yesterday he was jailed for 19 months for the “bizarre” escapade.
Elgin Sheriff Court heard Mathew had been banned form driving following an incident in Fort William in 2007.
But on Saturday, November 14, he travelled from his home town of Huntly to Inverurie to discuss buying a powerful silver Audi S5 worth £17,000 from Christopher Gardiner.
After Mr Gardiner accompanied him on a test drive, Mathew asked if he could try out the coupe on his own.
Fiscal Kevin Corrins told the court that a short time later Mathew telephoned Mr Gardiner to say the car had lost power.
But when he arrived at the spot where Mathew said it had broken down, there was no sign of either him or the silver Audi.
Mr Gardiner contacted the police – while Mathew spent the evening driving his partner and friends around Huntly in the car, telling them he had bought it.
When he found out police were heading to Huntly to arrest him, he fled to the coast.
Drinkers at Portknockie’s Seafield Inn saw Mathew park the car beside the village’s harbour at 10.30pm and walk away carrying a rucksack.
When police arrived there was no trace of Mathew.
And his whereabouts remained a mystery until 8pm the following day when the crew of a standby vessel attached to the Captain oil field 35 miles east of Wick spotted a flare being set off.
Mr Corrins added: “They saw this signal about 800 yards away, shone a searchlight on to the yacht and saw the accused standing on the stern of it waving frantically towards them.”
The crew launched a boat to bring Mathew aboard, but he had to spend nearly 48 hours on the standby vessel before a passing ship picked him up and dropped him at Fraserburgh.
He was arrested in the port on November 19.
The yacht, which belonged to Buckie’s Euan and Karen Paterson, eventually drifted and crashed into rocks on Auskerry, a small island east of Orkney.
The court heard the vessel suffered roughly £9,000 of damage and was “no longer seaworthy”.
Mathew, who was described as a prisoner at Inverness, admitted stealing a motor vehicle and driving it without insurance while disqualified and stealing the yacht.
His agent, solicitor Robert Cruickshank, said: “My client seems to have acted in an impulsive way, which he puts down to stress.
“His conduct was bizarre, and he harbours feelings of shame and remorse for what he did.”
Sheriff Chris Dickson cited a “significant” number of past convictions relating to dishonesty, before jailing Mathew for 19 months and 20 days.
He told him: “Despite having no sailing experience whatsoever, you stole a vessel and travelled a vast distance into the dangerous and unpredictable North Sea.”
