A COMPANY director is more than £100,000 out of pocket after a man he had invited back to his Henley home made off in his three-month-old Porsche and smashed it into a tree.
But although the car was written off, 25 year-old Rory Shellard still managed to drive it to a nearby coach firm where he dumped it and ran off, abandoning his injured passenger.
And jailing Shellard for ten months, a judge at Warwick Crown Court said that was ‘a serious aggravating feature.’
Shellard, of Horace Street, Bilston, who had pleaded guilty to aggravated vehicle taking resulting in damage, was also banned from driving for three years and five months.
Prosecutor Amy Jackson said businessman Jody Sanders had bought a Porsche 911 for £110,000 in February last year.
After attending a ‘black tie’ event on May 1, he invited some fellow guests back to his home, but at 2am Mr Sanders had a call from his insurance company saying the airbags in the car had been deployed.
He saw the car was gone as had Shellard and another guests Jordan Gocan.
Meanwhile the police were called to the scene of the crash in Camp Lane, Henley, at 2.50am.
Shellard had written-off the Porsche before abandoning it, together with Mr Gocan, who suffered extensive bruising in the crash but escaped more serious injury.
Shellard had then run from the scene, but was identified from DNA found on the driver’s airbag, and made no comment when he was arrested and interviewed.
She pointed out Mr Sanders’ insurance company had paid out just £8,500 for the written-off super-car – because of his failure to disclose information about points on his licence.
The payout represented what they were able to sell the wrecked car for, leaving Mr Sanders £101,500 out of pocket.
The court head Shellard had a conviction for driving with excess alcohol and possessing cocaine in 2014, and had only got his licence back six months earlier.
Nicholas Smith, defending, said Shellard worked as a personal trainer, and there were references from a number of people including his business partner, a former police officer.
He added Shellard took full responsibility for the offence, and had been showing off to his friend who, the court heard, believed he had Mr Sanders’ permission to drive the car.
Jailing Shellard, Judge Andrew Lockhart QC told him: “The loss to Mr Sanders is just over £100,000. It is an uninsured loss, and one he will have to bear. I cannot make a compensation order, but civil proceedings may follow.”
