A serial car thief is back behind bars after stealing a car from an Uber Eats delivery driver and taking it on a 52-mile joyride to Forfar.
Gerard Graham jumped into the vehicle while the driver was making a delivery and drove it all the way to Angus – where he crashed it into a building.
Two days later he helped himself to another car in Forfar and drove it back up to the north-east where he led police on a high-speed chase which ended in another crash, this time with a tree.
The serial offender, 31, had previously been banned from driving until September 2023 at Aberdeen Sheriff Court, the court was told.
Stole car and crashed it into wall
Fiscal depute Rebecca Thomson said the first car, a silver Volkswagen, was taken from Castle Street in Aberdeen at 12.25am on December 11 last year after its driver left the keys in the ignition while making an Uber Eats delivery.
“The driver returned one minute later to find the vehicle was gone,” Miss Thomson said.
“The vehicle was later found by police having collided with a building, on Queen Street in Forfar.”
Two days later, while still in Forfar, Graham helped himself to an insecure Dacia Duster parked outside Halfords in Queenswell Road.
Its owner had initially locked the vehicle but after returning to grab a hat on a break from work and inadvertently left the keys in the unlocked car.
Just an hour later he returned to find the car was gone.
Officers traced it on the A92 Dundee-to-Aberdeen road near Badentoy at 1pm the following day.
Sped past school at 60mph
“The police officers signalled for the vehicle to stop but the accused failed to do so and instead accelerated,” the court was told.
“The accused turned off the A92, into Portlethen, and entered the roundabout at Cookston Road in the wrong direction, continued round the roundabout before exiting from the same position which he had entered.
“He continued driving along Cookston Road into Portlethen at speeds of up to 70mph, in excess of the speed limit of 30mph.
“He turned right onto Muirend Road, overtook several vehicles before arriving at the entrance to a retail park, executing a handbrake turn, and continuing along Muirend Road.
“The accused turned onto Bruntland Road before exiting Portlethen, passing Portlethen Academy at speeds of up to 60mph.”
On exiting Portlethen, where the road narrows, he lost control of the car while trying to take a right-hand bend at excessive speed and collided with a tree, causing significant damage to the car.
The accused was cautioned and arrested and conveyed to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary before being taken to Kittybrewster custody suite, where he denied driving both cars.
Appearing in the dock from custody at HMP Grampian, he admitted a total of 10 charges – two of stealing a car, two of driving while disqualified, one of dangerous driving, two of driving without insurance, two of failing to identify himself to officers, one failure to stop for police.
His defence agent Iain McGregor reserved his mitigation on this occasion until background reports and a restriction or liberty order assessment are carried out.
Sheriff Andrew Miller deferred sentencing of Graham, a prisoner of HMP Grampian until next month.
Previous ‘inept’ joyride ended in jail
Graham was jailed for 10 months and banned from the road for three years in March 2022 after he stole a minibus to drive home from prison.
On that occasion, the court was told he was “too impatient” to wait the 20 minutes for a bus back to the city.
Graham was branded “inept” after he was caught because he left his release papers on the front seat.
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