A TEENAGER who repaid a couple for their hospitality by taking their car texted the owner: “Be Bk Wiv You In An Hour Sos Mate Av Ad To Do It.”

Kyle Daniel Wright was at the wheel of the Audi A3 which was then in a short-lived, but potentially dangerous police pursuit.

Durham Crown Court was told Wright, then 18, and his girlfriend were invited into a couple’s home in Croxdale, near Spennymoor, on May 18.

Lewis Kerr, prosecuting, said at one point Wright saw the female householder put money into a drawer, where the spare keys for her Audi were kept.

Mr Kerr said two days later a neighbour informed the couple that he saw their Audi being driven from the driveway, at 9.40pm.

Their suspicions aroused by Wright’s furtive observations two evenings earlier, they rang him several times, but got no response.

Mr Kerr said they did receive a text message back, saying (sic): “Be Bk Wiv You In An Hour Sos Mate Av Ad To Do It.”

Police were notified and an officer, on mobile patrol in Stockton town centre, spotted the Audi at traffic lights.

He indicated for it to stop, which it did. But, when the officer pulled over, Wright drove off in the Audi.

Mr Kerr said the ensuing pursuit took place over only about 500 metres of a built-up residential area, in which the Audi was driven at up to 67mph, at times over speed humps, before drawing to a halt.

Although a passenger ran off, Wright was detained and arrested and he promptly made admissions that he had taken the car.

Wright, now 19, of South Street, Spennymoor, admitted theft of the car keys, aggravated vehicle taking, driving while disqualified and an affray, committed a fortnight later while on bail for the driving matters.

Tom Mitchell, mitigating, said: “He’s still 19 and I appreciate the report doesn’t make easy reading, and his list of previous convictions doesn’t make good reading.

“But, the last five months in adult custody have been nothing short of a misery.”

Imposing a 21-month sentence in a young offenders’ institution, Judge Jonathan Carroll told Wright: “You were invited into the home of friends and you accepted their hospitality.

“You saw an opportunity to take their car and, in so doing, you repaid their hospitality by stealing from right under their noses.”

Wright was also banned from driving for two years and ten months.