A SERIAL vehicle thief has been spared a prison sentence after taking a Mini on a joyride to Purbeck.

Nicholas Attwell, who suffers from Asperger's, took the car from used auto parts workshop Charles Trent Ltd after finding it with the key still in the ignition.

He then drove it from Old Wareham Road in Poole to Swanage, but was arrested in the seaside town after calling concerned community mental health nurses and telling them what he had done.

Upon his arrest, Attwell told police officers: "I've stolen a car and I'm looking for another one to steal."

Prosecuting at Bournemouth Crown Court, Jonathan Underhill said Attwell was reported to police as a missing person on October 15 last year.

He had been due to attend an appointment with a community nurse.

"[The nurse] had received a call from the defendant explaining that he had stolen a car and was in Swanage," Mr Underhill said.

"The information was sent to the police, and Mr Attwell was found at about 10.50pm in Station Road."

The defendant, who lives with his mum in Utrecht Court, Christchurch, has an "unenviable and lengthy" record of 69 convictions for 272 offences, Mr Underhill said.

Last year, Attwell was sectioned in an attempt to curb his compulsion to take buses and trucks.

In 2015, he took a bus from a depot in Swanage and drove it almost 50 miles to Yeovil.

Mitigating, Robert Grey asked for the defendant to give evidence in the witness box.

Attwell, 55, told a judge he has been diagnosed with Asperger's and bipolar disorder.

"I'm obsessed with driving," he said.

The defendant, who spends three days a week completing voluntary work in Dorset, admitted taking a vehicle without consent, driving without insurance, driving while disqualified and the commission of a further offence during the operational period of a suspended sentence.

He also admitted criminal damage after throwing a brick repeatedly at a cash point in Ringwood when it failed to return his card.

Judge Brian Forster QC told Attwell he has a number of "great attributes".

"People say good things about you and you're a keen worker," he said.

"Unfortunately, you have a number of mental health difficulties and they have really cast a shadow over your life."

From the dock, Attwell added: "And my mum's, of course."

Judge Forster said: "I don't have any immediate answers - you have to work with doctors, the probation service and other people to try and control your interest in cars and to behave in a sensible way."

Attwell was sentenced to a community order with 200 hours of unpaid work and 30 rehabilitation days. His curfew will be extended for 56 days and he was disqualified from driving for 12 months.