Two serial criminals who turned a stolen car into a fireball while their friends were still inside have narrowly avoided jail.
Greg Hatten and Robert Beattie were caught on camera pouring petrol straight into the boot of the silver Astra, minutes before they set it alight.
The pair were part of a group of five men who had been travelling in the car, which was stolen from outside a home in Aberdeen on March 23 last year.
At about 5.30pm that day, the vehicle, driven by Marcus Paton, was parked in a space reserved for disabled customers at the Asda store in Muir End Road, Portlethen.
Seconds later, Robert Beattie exited the hatchback, alongside Hatten and Keith Meldrum, before it was set alight – leaving Christopher Matthews and Paton shut inside.
Hatten, 24, and 28-year-old Beattie appeared at the High Court in Aberdeen last month and admitted setting the car on fire and endangering the lives of their two friends.
The pair had been due to go on trial accused of attempted murder, alongside Mr Meldrum. However, advocate depute Bill McVicar accepted that Mr Meldrum had no involvement in the incident and that the men did not realise anyone was left inside the vehicle.
Mr McVicar said the fire destroyed the £9,500 Astra and caused £13,500 of damage to a black Mercedes 4×4 parked in the next bay.
The court heard Paton, currently serving an 18-month sentence for stealing the vehicle, was left with cuts from broken glass, while Mr Matthews was blistered as the flames melted his clothing.
Yesterday Hatten and Beattie appeared at the High Court in Edinburgh in front of Lord Jones to be sentenced for the crime.
Lord Jones told them he thought they had committed an act of “utter stupidity” and said it was “only by good fortune it did not have graver consequences”.
He said he had considered imposing a custodial sentence but had reluctantly decided to give them a chance to prove they had changed their ways.
Beattie, of 97 Greenfern Road, Mastrick, Aberdeen, and Hatten, of 45 Redcloak Crescent, Stonehaven, were ordered to carry out 270 hours of unpaid work in the community within the next 18 months.