A man who kidnapped a young girl when he drove off with a family car while she was in the back seat has been jailed despite saying he didn't realise she was there.
A Vauxhall Vectra car was taken from Quarrington Hill, near Durham while a two-year-old child was sitting in the rear of the vehicle on September 21.
The car was later found abandoned in the nearby village of Ludworth. The girl was unharmed.
Luke James Joyce, of Essex Place, Peterlee, pleaded guilty to kidnap, aggravated vehicle taking, driving while disqualified and without insurance but denied dangerous driving and theft at an earlier hearing at Durham Crown Court.
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The court heard the incident originated after Joyce came across the car with its keys in the ignition while the driver dropped shopping off at a nearby property.
Joyce drove off and hit speeds of between 30-40mph on the quiet residential road. The court heard he did not initially know the child was in the car when he drove away but he continued to drive dangerously, causing the toddler distress.
Defending, Jane Waugh said Joyce wasn't intending to take the child and he behaved stupidly and in panic by continuing to drive with her in the car. She added: “He knows what he did was stupid.”
The court heard Joyce has an "appaling record" of driving offences and was recently out of prison at the time of the September incident.
Addressing the 27-year-old, Judge James Adkin said: “When you first took the car you didn’t realise there was a two-year-old in it, when you realised there was you nevertheless continued to drive.
"When you stopped the car and threw away the car keys, what you should have done was to ring the police and say ‘I’ve just realised there’s a baby in it, this is where it is, come and rescue it straight away’. But you didn’t do that.”
Judge Adkin sentenced Joyce to 30 months in prison and a 51 month driving ban.
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