A MAN whose fingerprints were found on part of a steering column from a stolen car has been banned from driving and ordered to do unpaid work.

A MAN whose fingerprints were found on part of a steering column from a stolen car has been banned from driving and ordered to do unpaid work.

Unemployed Richard Hunt, of Queens Square, Ipswich, admitted allowing himself to be carried in the green Ford Fiesta which was stolen from Khartoum Road in the town in March this year.

The owner of the car discovered it missing at 9am on March 7.

It was found by police in the car park of the Barclays branch in Woodbridge Road. The driver's door had been forced and part of the steering column had been removed so that the vehicle could be started.

The missing section of steering column was found next to the car and forensic checks revealed four fingerprints left by Hunt.

After being arrested 21-year-old Hunt told police he couldn't recall being in the car.

Naomi Turner, prosecuting, said that initially he had claimed that his fingerprints could have been on the steering column because it had been outside the car and he had picked it up and thrown it away, however police then pointed out to him that they hadn't told him the piece of steering column had been outside the car.

No one was charged with stealing the vehicle but Hunt pleaded guilty to allowing himself to be carried in a stolen vehicle when he appeared at South East Suffolk Magistrates' Court yesterday.

Mark Holt, representing Hunt, told the magistrates: “He was so drunk he has very little memory in relation to this incident.”

Passing sentence, magistrate Bunty Hunt said: “You will do 60 hours unpaid work. You are disqualified from driving for six weeks from Monday, June 9.”

She also ordered him to pay £100 compensation to the owner of the Ford.

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