A CROOK whose crime sprees stretched across four counties is behind bars today after a judge told him: "You're already building up a huge record."

Luke Boniface, 20, admitted a dozen charges of theft, attempted theft and dangerous driving after drug-fuelled rampages in January and June this year.

He twice stole cars, switched number plates, fled without paying for petrol and targeted a number of shops in Weardale, County Durham, a court heard.

During one escapade in his own vehicle, Boniface tried to outrun a police patrol car, mounted a kerb and crashed, before fleeing from the scene.

Teesside Crown Court heard that he had been forced to commit the crimes because he had a drugs debt, and had been told by his dealer to find money.

Locking him up for nine months, Judge Peter Armstrong told Boniface, from Evenwood, County Durham: "Sadly, your story is not an unfamiliar one."

The judge added: "At 20, you are already building up a fairly substantial record . . . I'm afraid there are just too many offences to overlook.

"You story is a lesson to be learned by others who get involved with drugs, and ending up in debt, and having to commit crime to fund that debt."

The court heard how Boniface stole a Fiat Bravo from Stockton last December, and drove to Bradford, West Yorkshire, to deliver it for a dealer.

He was told the car was not good enough, headed back north, started to run out of petrol, pulled into a service station in Thirsk, North Yorkshire, and fled without paying.

The following day, he stole £1,000 worth of clothing from the Mole Country Store in Piercebridge, near Darlington, and goods from Blue the Teal Tackle and Guns shop in Crook, County Durham.

Within 15 minutes, the black hatchback - with false plates snatched in Bradford - was set alight in nearby Hamsterley Forest, said prosecutor Rachel Masters.

Last month, Boniface was involved in another set of offences in the Crook and Bishop Auckland areas when cash boxes were ripped from telephone kiosks, and he again raced off from a petrol station without paying for his fuel.

On July 15, police followed him in his own Ford Focus in Evenwood where he crashed and ran off with a passenger, but was found climbing out of a window at a nearby house.

Ben Pegman, mitigating, said Boniface had recently settled down, had a new girlfriend, and was hoping to find work after a trouble background.

He said: "He is someone, who in a short period of time, has accrued a great number of offences. It is really in the last few years that his problems have come about."

Boniface, of Shirley Terrace, Evenwood, was jailed for nine months after he admitted 12 charges of theft, attempted theft and dangerous driving.