A drunk 16-year-old who stole a brand new £44,000 car then ”trashed” it has narrowly escaped being sent to detention.
Cupar Sheriff Court was told that Stephan Mill, of Newport, had taken the VW 4×4 from a house he was helping to look after, then set the vehicle on fire after damaging it.
The details emerged when schoolboy Mill, now 17, of Victoria Street, appeared before Sheriff Charles Macnair on Thursday.
He admitted that on October 9 last year, in north Fife, he stole the car, drove it while not old enough to hold a driving licence, and drove without insurance. He also admitted that at the Promenade, Tayport, while acting with another person, he set fire to the vehicle causing damage to the interior.
Depute fiscal Brian Robertson told the court the car, a VW Tuareg, was owned by a friend of the accused’s mother, who owned a specialist car company. The owner had been on holiday abroad, leaving the keys hanging in the house where the accused and his mother had been asked to ”dog sit”.
Mr Robertson said a witness had spotted the car on fire, and with accident damage, and the emergency services were contacted. The fire had been put out, and when the accused was found at the owner’s home he admitted being the driver.
He said it had been his idea to take ”the big 4×4” but he had hit a wall with it and he panicked.
Mill thought that he would burn it out and went to get some oil while the other person collected leaves, and the vehicle had to be written off because of all the damage.
The owner had been spoken to by police, and he told them that the incident had ruined his holiday in the USA. The vehicle had been used by his company, but he had a £5,000 insurance excess to pay and this had put him under ”massive strain and pressure”.
Mill told police he was truly sorry about what had happened, and the distress he had caused. He said he would do anything he could to make up for his actions.
Defence solicitor Kris Gilmartin said the crash had caused most of the damage, while the fire had been confined to the driver’s seat area. He said Mill’s behaviour had been ”stupidity exacerbated by blind panic”.
Mr Gilmartin added that the accused was clearly immature, and was now a fifth year pupil who was about to sit exams and wanted to stay on at school for a further year. He had accepted responsibility from the outset, had written to the owner and had made a full and frank apology to his own mother.
The solicitor said the accused wanted to pay the £5,000 excess, and had earnings from his paper round and a job in a restaurant. In addition, he could pay £1,000 he had been given as a birthday present to buy his own car.
Sheriff Macnair said the accused had admitted that he had been drinking, and was ”quite drunk” when the incident occurred.
”You decided to steal a very valuable motor car from someone who had entrusted you in his home,” said the sheriff. ”You had no business driving at all, but despite that you drove the car, trashed it, then tried to hide the offence by setting fire to it.”
The sheriff said that at the time Mill was still 16, and a first offender, and it was only this combination that would keep him out of a substantial period of detention.
Imposing a community payback order, Sheriff Macnair ordered the accused to carry out 200 hours of unpaid work, pay compensation totalling £2,750, and serve a two-year driving ban.
He also made a three-year supervision order, and told Mill that he had to be of good behaviour for the same period.