A THIEF stole a car from a petrol station forecourt while its owner paid for fuel — then smashed it into a tree.

Prolific criminal Bobby Stewart was caught through DNA left on an airbag which deployed when he crashed the vehicle into a tree 25 minutes later.

At Bolton Crown Court, 25-year-old Stewart was jailed for 21 months for the theft and a string of other crimes committed over a five month period earlier this year.

Jonathan Dickinson, prosecuting, told how keys were left in a Toyota Avensis at the Shell petrol station in Crompton Way by the owner at 7.50pm on February 28 and Stewart jumped in and sped off, crashing into a tree at Moss Lea, Astley Bridge, writing off the car.

Then on March 31 Stewart walked into the Co-op in Chorley Old Road with a half full pint glass in his hand.

Mr Dickinson added that drunken Stewart snatched a sandwich from a fridge and took a bite from it, verbally abusing staff and a customer and racially abusing security guard Allah Ditta Bashir, who asked him to leave.

Police identified him from the shop’s CCTV and he was arrested, but he then failed to turn up at Bolton magistrates court on July 8 after being granted bail.

Four days later police spotted him on Bromwich Street, The Haulgh, behind the wheel of a Honda Accord which had been taken from a car park in Higher Bridgeman Street.

Mr Dickinson told how Stewart accelerated hard and drove dangerously through the streets of Bolton, mounting kerbs and forcing another car to swerve to avoid a crash and speeding through junctions without stopping.

The chase came to an end when Stewart tried to do a handbrake turn in Breightmet Street and hit the kerb, coming to a halt.

A male passenger ran off but Stewart was caught after being delayed by trying to get his seat belt off and slipping as he got out of the vehicle.

The court heard that over the last 13 years Stewart has been convicted of 71 offences, including robbery and burglary.

“He has an appalling antecedent record,” said Thomas McKail, defending.

“He is in danger of becoming institutionalised in that he has spent the majority of his time in custody.”

Stewart, of Kirkhope Walk, Bolton, pleaded guilty to two counts of aggravated vehicle taking, driving while disqualified and without insurance, failing to report an accident, theft, racially aggravated causing fear of violence and failing to surrender to court.

As well as a jail sentence, Judge Timothy Stead banned Stewart from driving for five years, after which he will have to take an extended test.

He was also ordered to pay a £100 victim surcharge.