How has thief who stole my van not been punished?
10:00am Tuesday 29th November 2011 in
THE owner of a stolen truck has criticised prosecutors after the thief avoided justice.
Simon Curtis, 40, gave chase after his Toyota Hilux was taken from his driveway in East Road, West Mersea.
Joe Ellis, 20, was arrested at the scene. He admitted being a passenger in the car and was punished with a community order, ordered to carry out unpaid work and was given a driving ban.
The driver has not been brought before the courts.
A second man, a 19-year-old from Grays, wanted in connection with the incident, handed himself in, but there was not enough evidence to convict him.
Mr Curtis, who tailed his stolen vehicle until the police took over the chase, has been left furious by the decision.
He said: “When I was following, there was one driver in the car and no one else.
“Are they saying a ghost was driving?
“I will go back to court to fight this if necessary.”
Mr Curtis is seeking compensation for a new truck and said he has lost two weeks’ work and seen his insurance costs soar.
He said: “If that guy has been given unpaid work, he can come and work with me and I will make him clean the truck.”
The thieves were tailed by six police cars and a helicopter in a seven-mile chase to Colchester on October 10.
The pursuit ended when the driver lost control of the vehicle, hitting a concrete bollard outside the Willows nursing home, causing £5,000 damage.
Ellis, of Lulworth Close, Stanford-le-Hope, was caught by a police sniffer dog, hiding behind nearby huts.
He admitted being a passenger in a stolen vehicle when he appeared at Colchester Magistrates’ Court.
Lucy Osbourne, mitigating, said: “He really took no part in the theft.
“He knows he shouldn’t have been in the vehicle.”
District Judge David Cooper said: “It was more your friend and you just came along for the ride.”
Ellis was handed a one-year community order, 80 hours of unpaid work and a one-year driving ban.
A Crown Prosecution Service spokesman said: “Two men were arrested in connection with the incident, but evidence allowed us only to charge Joe Ellis.
“We are duty bound to only prosecute when there is a realistic amount of evidence and, in this case, evidence was insufficient to allow us to continue prosecution of the second individual.
“Although he handed himself into the police, he didn’t admit to being the driver.”