A TEENAGER stole a neighbour’s car and drove it around on three wheels after a crash, before dumping it and returning the next day to set it on fire, a court heard yesterday.

Daniel Mills woke the morning after his drunken spree and thought it had been a dream – but reality struck when he found the damaged people carrier in the next street.

He then fire-bombed the £3,500 Renault Scenic and ran back to his Darlington home, but neighbours saw the arson attack, called the police and he was arrested.

Mills walked free from court after a judge heard that he had never before been in serious trouble before, and came from a decent, hard-working family on whom he had brought shame.

Asked why he had taken the car and later destroyed it, the 19-yearold told Judge Brian Forster: “I have really got no excuse. I am just really sorry, and disgusted with myself.”

He added: “When I crashed the car, I took it to Geneva Road and went home and left it for the night. I woke up the next morning and thought it was just a bad dream.

“But when I went back, the car was still there and I didn’t know what to do with it. I am really sorry for my parents and I am disgusted with myself for what I did.”

Teesside Crown Court heard that Mills went to the home of neighbour Ryan Wheeler, in Fenby Avenue, while his friend’s parents were at the wedding on February 21.

The pair took the car for a drive and returned in the afternoon, before they started drinking with other friends ahead of a night-time party in Middleton-St-George.

Everyone left the house, but Mills returned later, broke in through a kitchen window, stole a lap-top computer and games console, and again took the car.

He crashed it near the golf club at Blackwell Grange, and the car was seen by witnesses travelling with a front wheel missing and sparks coming from the road.

Jenny Haigh, prosecuting, said the vehicle was abandoned in Geneva Road, but before owners Andrew and Dianne Wheeler could recover it, it was set alight.

James Fenny, mitigating for Mills, described his actions as “a disaster”, and said he immediately lost his job with a removal firm, but hoped to get work as a painter and decorator.

Judge Forster told him: “You have told us that you woke up the next morning and it was almost like a dream. For the other family, it was in every sense a nightmare.”

Mills, who admitted burglary, aggravated vehicle taking, taking a vehicle without consent, driving without insurance, and arson, was given a nine-month prison sentence, suspended for 18 months.

He was also banned from driving for a year, put on an electronic tag curfew for three months and ordered to undergo 18 months of probation service supervision.