Chesterfield crooks stole householder’s car after spare key went missing

Defendants Gerald Sampson and Renee Duqueman were later found by police in the vehicle, displaying false number plates and claiming to have bought it.

Prosecutor Nicola Pattern described how on January 9 last year the victim was at home when he heard his Ford Cougar being driven away from his house at about 10.30pm.

After checking in the house he realised his spare was missing.

Sampson, 40, and Duqueman, 36, both claimed to police they had bought the car – worth £14,000 – from a private seller in Sheffield.

However this was not Sampson’s only vehicle-related offence, the court heard.

In August this year he sped off in a Vauxhall Astra when police in a patrol car recognised him as not holding a licence and activated their lights and sirens.

Ms Pattern said Sampson drove the car over a recreation area and on a footpath between houses before being spotted on foot headed back to his own address.

He also stole steaks, blocks of cheese and 12 bottles of brandy in a spate of supermarket thefts around Chesterfield between May and September.

Sampson, of Kingsley Avenue, Birdholme, admitted stealing a car, theft, driving without due care and attention while uninsured and unlicensed and breaching a suspended sentence.

Duqueman, of Clay Lane, Clay Cross, admitted theft of a motor vehicle.

The court heard Sampson had 35 convictions for 71 offences while Duqueman had two convictions for four offences.

Defence barristers acting for the pair said former drug addict Duqueman was now clean, while Sampson had been using illicit substances from a young age.

Sampson was handed 28 weeks jail suspended for 18 months and an 18-month driving ban.

Duqueman was given a 12-month community order with 25 rehabilitation activity days.