A TEENAGE car thief with 30 past convictions is back behind bars after being caught in the act on CCTV.

Oliver Richardson, 19, was spotted driving a Mitsubishi 4x4 in York only hours after the keys were stolen from a house in the city.

He was stopped by police and has now been sentenced to three and a half months in a young offenders’ institution.

York Crown Court heard Richardson, of Chaloner’s Road, Dringhouses, had a lengthy record of burglaries and thefts.

His latest crime came after a house in Farmlands Road, Dringhouses, was broken into on November 6 last year in a “Hanoi burglary”, the type of crime where thieves break into houses with the aim of stealing car keys and driving the vehicle away.

As well as the Mitsubishi keys, cash was also taken.

At about 5am a passer-by saw youths near the 4x4 behaving suspiciously and tipped off police.

Shortly afterwards, CCTV cameras picked up Richardson driving the vehicle and it was subsequently stopped by police.

Alan James, prosecuting, said Richardson also committed two burglaries last October, putting him in breach of a community order imposed for causing criminal damage two months earlier when he hit a lamp-post so hard it fell to the ground.

Glen Parsons, for Richardson, said his client had a “chequered past”, with 30 convictions for 14 different offences, mostly involving vehicle crime, on his record.

He told the court: “When he last came out of custody, he vowed to his family he would turn over a new leaf and found employment working as a cleaner. They all feel very let down.”

He said Richardson seemed ready to wipe the slate clean.

Richardson admitted the theft of the car, and nine other counts of burglary and theft which were taken into consideration. As well as the three-and-a-half-month sentence, he will serve a further 21 days for breaching the community order.