A TEENAGER who stole a car and embarked on an hour long rampage through a village has narrowly avoided being jailed.

Dempsey Tighe grabbed the keys out of the car as it was parked on a petrol station forecourt before she demanded money from the owner, Teesside Crown Court heard.

After he refused, the 18-year-old jumped into his car, locked the doors and sped off through the village of Colburn in North Yorkshire, shortly after midnight on August 20 this year.

Nigel Soppitt, prosecuting, said police were called and the officer spotted the car drive past the garage and a pursuit began.

The court heard how Tighe sped through residential areas before driving on to playing fields where she demolished fencing and hit a tree.

Tighe knocked a wing mirror of a police car as she continued to avoid capture before being unable to continue having eventually smashed into a bollard.

The teenager pleaded guilty to dangerous driving, aggravated vehicle taking, driving without a licence, failing to stop after an accident and driving without insurance at an earlier hearing.

In mitigation, Paul Newcombe said she accepted full responsibility for her actions and had a £200 a day drug habit at the time of the offence.

“It is clear that she takes all of the blame for what happened that night,” he said. “She seeks to blame no-one else for what happened.”

He said the theft of the car was a moment of madness but that excuse could not be used to defend the hour-long trail of destruction she left in her wake.

“There was an element of panic that once she committed to driving she didn’t know how to stop and get out of what she was doing.”

Judge Peter Armstrong gave her an eight month sentence suspended for two years, as well as banning her from driving for a year, ordering her to take an extended test before she is allowed to drive, ordered her to carry out 140 hours of unpaid work and putting her on a rehabilitation programme for 40 days.

He said: “The time has come for you to grow up and make the decision to keep out of trouble. If you reoffend in the next two years, prison is where you will end up.”

The teenager, of Ripon House, bail hostel in Leeds, was also ordered to pay £325 to the owner of the stolen vehicle after it was written off by insurers and to pay £900 criminal court charge along with a £200 victim surcharge. Her driving licence was also endorsed for driving without insurance and failing to stop after an accident.