A THIEF found himself locked in a car he was trying to steal from in Bournemouth when the owner spotted him carrying out the crime.

Scott Roy Andrew Hunt was attempting to steal from the BMW that was parked in Strouden Road on Thursday, March 5 in the early hours of the morning.

While he was searching the vehicle, the owner could see Hunt from their home address. Using the electronic car key, the victim locked the doors of the car and called police, who arrested Hunt at the scene. Police searched the 45-year-old and found a sat nav he had stolen earlier from a vehicle parked in Queen’s Park Avenue.

A Dorset Police spokesman said they received a report at 4.10am of an attempted theft in progress involving a car. Officers attended shortly afterwards and the offender was still inside the vehicle.

Hunt appeared before Poole Magistrates’ Court on Friday, March 20, in relation to the two offences.

Mitigating Harry Price-Smith said in the early hours of March 5 Hunt withdrew £300 in cash, which he lost on fruit machines.

Mr Price-Smith told the court the defendant, who has been diagnosed with schizophrenia, decided he needed more money so he stole the sat nav and made efforts to steal from the other vehicle.

Prosecuting Jane Nott read a victim’s impact statement to magistrates in court.

It said that the incident had left the victim and their family scared. The statement added: “It is a real intrusion of my privacy”

The statement went on to say that Hunt had moved a picture of the victim’s child that was in the car and this made them feel “very uneasy”.

“I am not sure how this man got into my car,” the statement added.

Hunt, of Wimborne Road, Bournemouth, admitted a charge of theft from a motor vehicle relating to stealing the sat nav in Queen’s Park Avenue and a charge of attempted theft from a motor vehicle in relation to the incident in Strouden Road.

The hearing was adjourned and he was given unconditional bail ahead of sentencing on Monday, April 20.