Robber drove off in Range Rover after knife threat to car dealer on test drive
THIEF HAD EARLIER DRIVEN OFF A BMW AND HIT A MOTORCYCLIST
A CRIMINAL threatened to stab a car dealership owner when he accompanied him on a bogus test drive and which saw him steal a Range Rover.
John Nevin had also targeted another car showroom earlier that day and drive off and crashed a £15,000 BMW.
During a spate of offending, the 25-year-old also tried to burgle a store in Long Eaton and stole from a petrol station in Willington.
Derby Crown Court heard that while out on a test drive of the Range Rover the defendant, of Wild Street, told the car dealer “give me the keys or I will shank you” before forcing him out of the vehicle and driving off. But such was his state he had no idea where he left it and it has never been recovered.
Jailing him for two-and-a-half years, Judge Shaun Smith QC said: “These were impulsive, unsophisticated and ill-thought out offences. Somebody who made that threat and who behaved in the way you did must have had an effect on a man whose business is to take people out in cars on test drives.”
Sarah Slater, prosecuting, said Nevin’s raft of offences began with an attempted burglary at Home Bargains in Long Eaton. On that occasion – April 29 this year – he was challenged in a storeroom by a staff member before fleeing emptyhanded.
Miss Slater said in the early hours of the following morning Nevin stole goods from the Shell service station in Willington.
She said: “The two more serious offences both took place in Derby on May 6. He first entered Target Cars, in Sitwell Street (Spondon) and asked to test drive a BMW. The staff member thought because of the questions he asked his interest was genuine so he got in the car and moved it from the awkward parking space it was in. As he got out to move from the driver’s seat the defendant got in and drove off at speed colliding with a motorcyclist.”
Miss Slater said that car was recovered damaged the following day, but just an hour after that theft Nevin entered Morris Car Sales, in Nottingham Road, Spondon, and asked to test drive the Range Rover. The business owner went out with him but soon realised the defendant was going to try and steal it.
Miss Slater said: “He did a U-turn and stopped at the junction of Cambridge Street saying ‘get out and give me the key.’ A second man (accomplice), who was at the side of the road tried to drag the man out of the Range Rover while the defendant said ‘I will shank you’ before the victim was pulled out of the car.”
The prosecutor said Nevin was arrested at Royal Derby Hospital after going there himself for help with his mental health issues, on May 14.
The defendant, formerly of Griffin Place, Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, pleaded guilty to robbery, aggravated vehicle taking, driving while disqualified, attempted burglary and theft.
As well as the prison sentence, Judge Smith disqualified Nevin from driving for 27 months.
Nicola Hunter, mitigating, said her client had grown up in care and had turned to drugs and alcohol to “selfmedicate” following a number of deaths in his family.
She said: “There was not a great deal of planning to these ill-though out offences. He was brazen, there were no attempts to disguise himself. He was living in Aylesbury with his uncle and was doing really well. He thought he would move to Derby where his sister lives and that seems to have been his downfall.”
The Derby Telegraph has spoken to the owner of Morris Car Sales Ltd, but he did not wish to add any further comment.