A CAR thief was able to make off when his stepfather convinced security firm officials that he was the guilty party – and had a tag fitted to his ankle by mistake.

Gordon McKenzie, 27, enjoyed six days of freedom after 34-year-old George Lammie convinced G4S workers that he was the man they were looking for.

Officials from the firm turned up at their house to fit an electronic tag to McKenzie as part of his community sentence curfew in February, a court heard.

McKenzie hid upstairs while his stepfather handed over documents in his name and signed forms as the device was securely fitted to his ankle.

The ruse – designed to allow McKenzie out of the house when he should have been indoors – lasted just six days before it was was rumbled by police.

Teesside Crown Court heard that someone who knew McKenzie called police to say that is did not seem he was not abiding by the 8pm to 8am curfew.

When officers went to their home in Middlesbrough, they found that he was out – but Lammie had his feet up with the tag on his leg.

Both men admitted doing an act tending and intended to pervert the course of justice, and were sent to prison for two years yesterday.

The judge, Recorder William Lowe, QC, said the trick might have gone undetected had it not been for the phone call to the police.

He told the pair: “What you have sought to do is frustrate the sentence lawfully passed by the court and you must be punished.

“Others must understand that if they are tempted to seek to frustrate a sentence passed by any court in this land they will go to prison.

“It has to be made plain that it is not worth anybody's while to try to do what you tried to do. There mus be a significant term of imprisonment.”

The court heard that McKenzie was given a community order with a 17-week curfew for giving a false name to police in February.

The following day when staff from G4S went to his home to fit the tag, he hid upstairs while his stepfather purported to be him.

McKenzie's lawyer, Andrew Teate, told Mr Recorder Lowe: “He accepts a blatant disregard has been shown for an order of the court.

“He deeply regrets the position he has placed his stepfather in, although he accepts that he is equally to blame.”

Lammie's barrister, Duncan McReddie, said: “This is an offence completely without guile, without thought for the consequences.

“Given the plan was to subvert the order of the court, it was extremely likely that that would go wrong, as, indeed, it did, pretty quickly.

“Mr Lammie's actions were born out of a desire to assist his stepson. He bitterly regrets his conduct and offers his apologies.”

The pair, of Beaumont Road, Middlesbrough, looked stunned at the sentence, and McKenzie let out an audible gasp from the dock.