A REPEAT lorry thief with an extraordinary “compulsion” for stealing large vehicles has been sent to prison.

Nicholas Attwell “took a liking” to a lorry he found at a warehouse in Evesham, broke in and drove it hundreds of miles to the south west of England.

Worcester Magistrates Court were told that Attwell “clearly has a lot of fun driving other people’s vehicles” but simply dumped the vehicle when something better caught his eye.

District judge Bruce Morgan was told the 48-year-old had committed more than 300 offences, mostly vehicle-related, since 1977.

“That works out at more than 10 offences per year,” said Judge Morgan. A clearly frustrated Judge Morgan said the court powers were “woefully inadequate” to deal with this type of offending.

Attwell, of Christchurch, Dorset, took a single-decker coach from Wellington in Somerset earlier this month and drove it 105 miles to Evesham, according to Sallie Hewitt, prosecuting.

The following day, workers arrived at Troughton Transport on the Four Pools Industrial Estate to find the warehouse broken into and one of the firm’s fully laden 7.5-tonne DAF lorries missing. “About 30 metres away from the warehouse, the stolen coach was found.

“It had damage to its nearside and a fitted camera system which had been ripped out,” said Mrs Hewitt.

Police cameras had caught the lorry on its way south between Monday, September 21, and Thursday, September 24, and it was later recovered along with £10,000 of cargo 100 miles away in Wareham, Dorset.

Attwell admitted two charges of taking a vehicle without consent, two counts of driving while disqualified and without insurance.

In May, Oxford Crown Court sentenced him for taking a £220,000 coach in similar circumstances, even stopping to pick up an old lady and drive her home.

Susie Duncan, defending, said her client had confessed to officers when caught.

“His compulsion is quite extraordinary,” she said.

For vehicle taking, he received three months in jail, concurrent, with a further three months concurrent for driving while disqualified. He was fined £400 for driving without insurance and banned for four years.