A TEENAGER has pleaded guilty to 17 offences including aggravated vehicle taking, vehicle theft, criminal damage and assault.

Luke Michael Boniface appeared at Newton Aycliffe Magistrates Court in County Durham today (Friday, January 9) via a video link from Holme House Prison in Stockton.

Boniface, who provided his mother’s address of Nursery End, Ingleton, near Darlington, admitted a charge of aggravated vehicle taking in Evenwood, County Durham, on Wednesday, December 10.

He also pleaded guilty to an assault in the same village and damaging a Volkswagen Passat in Bishop Auckland the following day.

The 19-year-old went on to admit taking a Subaru Impreza without the owner’s consent in Darlington on Friday, November 7, and two similar charges committed on Thursday, December 18, involving a Ford Transit Connect in Layburn, North Yorkshire, and a Toyota Yaris in Shildon, County Durham.

Boniface pleaded guilty to further charges of causing criminal damage to a patio window in Shildon on Sunday, December 7; theft of number plates from cars in Kirkby Stephen, Cumbria, Middleton Tyas, North Yorkshire, and Great Stainton, County Durham, on Thursday, December 18; making off without payment for diesel in Thirsk, North Yorkshire, and Bradbury, near Sedgefield, County Durham, on the same date; driving without a licence and insurance on the same date; failing to stop after a road accident also on December 18; committing offences while subject to a conditional discharge; and a joint charge of theft of a motor vehicle on Tuesday, November 18.

Magistrates adjourned the case until Friday, January 23, for probation reports.

Boniface was remanded in custody.