A WORKINGTON man’s bid to act as a getaway driver after the woman he was with stole car keys from a house failed miserably, and he crashed within seconds.

Nicky Hewistson, 35, wrote off the Vauxhall Insignia in the collision with another parked car in Devonshire Street, Workington, as the doomed escapade on the morning of Saturday, May 21 went badly wrong.

The defendant admitted aggravated vehicle taking, failing to stop after an accident, and having no valid insurance.

Olivia Beesley, prosecuting at Carlisle Crown Court, outlined how the defendant’s female accomplice entered an address in Devonshire Street, Workington, and stole the keys to the Vauxhall parked outside the address.

“She entered the car on the passenger side and Mr Hewitson began to drive but crashed into a VW Golf.”

The owner of the car that was taken heard the bang caused by the collision and this prompted him to peer from an upstairs window.

He saw the Vauxhall being backed into his neighbour’s car. The keys to his car had been left on the kitchen windowsill. It happened between 11am and noon.

The victim had known Nicky Hewitson since he was a child, said the barrister. In a victim personal statement, the owner of the Vauxhall said what happened had left him feeling anxious in his own home, where he had lived for nearly eight years.

“When the incident first happened, I had no sleep because I was so frightened,” wrote the man. As a result of what happened, he felt unsafe in his own home and because his car was written off he was without one for three weeks.

This meant he could not visit his mother’s grave or go to Maryport as he normally did regularly.

The man added: “I can’t understand why he would do this to me; I’ve always helped him out with lifts.”

The court heard that Hewitson has acquired a long criminal record, almost exclusively for acquisitive thefts.

The community or suspended sentences he had been given in the hope of achieving his rehabilitation had usually ended with him being resentenced to custody.

Sean Harkin, for Hewitson, said the defendant had expressed remorse and he wanted to turn his life around. “But I understand that Your Honour may be sceptical about those comments,” Mr Harkin told Judge Nicholas Barker.

The judge described Hewitson as a 'prolific offender.'

He said: “You can’t drive but drove off and almost immediately you collided with a vehicle.” The defendant and the woman then immediately abandoned the enterprise and fled.

The judge told Hewitson: “You have a quite appalling record, persistent offending, usually stealing. You have had numerous sentences passed on you... I have absolutely no confidence that you would engage with Probation.

“I would see that as a waste of money and an utter waste of the resources of the Probation Service.”

As the judge was setting out the sentence – a total of four months in jail – Hewitson said: “I can’t do it anymore; I want to change my life. When I get out, I want to change my life.

“I’m coming off the drugs; I want to make the change, not only for me but for my mam. I want to make her happy.”

The defendant, of Roper Street, Workington, was given a 26-month driving ban and a three-year criminal behaviour order, which bans him from most of Workington’s shops and streets where he has committed offences.

This does not include Station Road, this being so that he an access the town’s railway station.

Before he was led away to begin his sentence, the judge wished Hewitson luck with his ambition to reform, saying that he hopes to not see him back before the court.