A PERSISTENT young offender left tell-tale fingerprints on the keys of a vehicle stolen from a college car park, a court heard.
Police saw Mark Thompson behaving suspiciously around a Ford Mondeo car, worth £3,500, on June 8, three days after it was taken from Trevelyan College car park in Durham.
The car was parked overnight by a man staying with a friend at nearby Van Mildert College, Durham Crown Court was told.
John Wilkinson, prosecuting, said Thompson threw away the keys when officers approached, but his fingerprints were found on them.
When questioned he claimed he and a friend found the car, but abandoned it when they realised it may have been stolen.
Thompson, 21, of Canon Cockin Street, Hendon, Sunderland, admitted handling the stolen car.
Jamie Adams, for Thompson, said since his arrest for the Mondeo offence he has served a five-month custodial sentence for another offence.
Recorder Graham Hyland said that, but for the sentence just served, he would have given Thompson another taste of life behind bars. He imposed a two-year probation order.
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