TEENAGE joyrider Shaun Dighton was in a stolen car as it crashed into a telegraph pole in Ipswich, a court heard.The 19-year-old was sentenced to community service by magistrates after pleading guilty to allowing himself to be carried in a stolen car.

By Matt Eley

TEENAGE joyrider Shaun Dighton was in a stolen car as it crashed into a telegraph pole in Ipswich, a court heard.

The 19-year-old was sentenced to community service by magistrates after pleading guilty to allowing himself to be carried in a stolen car.

He was in a Honda Civic with a youth when the car crashed in Queensbury Road on November 17. It is not known which of the joyriders was behind the wheel at the time of the smash.

The 16-year-old youth, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was sentenced to an 11-month referral order at Ipswich Youth Court earlier in this month.

In April last year Dighton was a key witness in the Simon Williams murder trial. Norwich Crown Court heard how he was with friends Jamie Briggs, 16, and Lee Ford, 17 – who were eventually convicted – at the time of the murder in May 2000.

At South East Suffolk Magistrates Court Dighton, of Nacton Road, Ipswich, was sentenced to 160 hours community service and banned from driving for 12-months. He was ordered to pay £100 compensation to the owner of the Honda, Christopher Harding, and £100 to British Telecom. He was also ordered to pay £30 towards prosecution costs.

Andrea Reynolds, prosecuting, told the court the car was stolen from outside Mr Harding's house in Gorse Road, Ipswich, on November 17 and crashed into the telegraph pole at 7.40am that day.

A witness to the crash contacted the police who arrested Dighton at the scene.

John Hughes, in mitigation, said: "At the time of his arrest and in his interview he made it clear that he was in the vehicle as a passenger."

He added that Dighton pleaded guilty as soon as the original charge of aggravated vehicle taking was changed to allowing to be carried in a stolen car.

Ray Condon, chairman of the bench, told Dighton he would have to pass a further driving test after serving his ban in order to get his licence back.