A MAN from Rickmansworth who was described by the presiding magistrate in court this week as "a pain in the neck" has been spared a jail sentence for car crimes.

Hedley Baldwin, 19, pleaded guilty at Watford Magistrates to seven offences, including one of taking a motorcycle without the owner's consent, for which he received a two-year probation order on Tuesday.

Chairman of the presiding magistrates said: "We have decided that the offences are serious enough to deserve a community sentence and we are going to restrict your freedom with a probation order.

"We will not be sending you back to prison. You have been there while in custody and you now know what it is like.

"We are making the probation order to help you change your ways and to protect the public - because, from what the court has heard, you have been a menace - and to stop you offending again.

"How big a problem have you been to your mother? You have been a pain in the neck."

The court heard that Baldwin, of Watford Road, Croxley Green, had been seen on February 20 in Croxley Green riding an 85cc Honda motorcycle, which had been taken earlier that day from outside a house in Croxley Green.

Prosecuting, Mr Rodney Cladingbowl, said: "An off-duty police officer saw Baldwin and a friend riding around the grounds of a local school and then leave the school on to Dulwich Way.

"He shouted at them to stop and told them he was a police officer but they carried on up the road.

"The motorcycle was later found by another police officer in a different park in Croxley Green, where it had been abandoned.

"Police officers went to the home of the defendant and he was arrested and taken to the police station to be interviewed."

Baldwin pleaded guilty to taking the motorcycle without the owner's consent at Watford Magistrates Court on July 3.

Later that month, he was caught driving while disqualified by police on two consecutive days.

Mr Cladingbowl said: "Baldwin had been disqualified from holding a licence for six months on March 12 for a separate incident.

"He was stopped by police officers at about 2.15pm driving a Ford Escort.

"He was taken to Watford police station where he admitted he had been driving but thought that he had only been disqualified for three months.

"Then, on the following day, he was seen driving on Church Street, Rickmansworth and, having been arrested on the day before, he was plainly aware of the disqualification."

For the two charges of driving while disqualified, two of driving with no insurance and two of driving with no test certificate which resulted from these incidents, Baldwin was disqualified from driving for one year and ordered to pay costs of £80.

Mr Stephen Down, speaking on behalf of Baldwin, said: "He does have a number of problems. He has trouble reading and writing and is a particularly susceptible individual.

"In relation to the first incident, I would say it was an opportunity he was unable to resist and he accepts he was committing a very serious offence.

"He is quite a gullible person and on July 28 he had been asked by some friends, some of whom were girlfriends, for a lift home.

"He had no money for a bus or taxi and foolishly offered to give them a lift.

"He intended to give them a lift and then to scrap the car but was recognised by a police officer. He fully accepts the stupidity of what he has done."

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.