Poetic justice for car thief as judge uses rhyme in sentencing

A car thief who wrote poems while waiting to be jailed was dealt poetic justice when a judge bizarrely sentenced him in rhyming verse. Steven Snell had spent three months on remand for car theft and driving offences when he wrote poems about his criminal past while awaiting his fate. He had been arrested for stealing a car in Northampton, having already crashed another stolen vehicle, and was yesterday sentenced at Northampton Crown Court. After reading a letter and poem Snell, 26, had written, Judge Richard Bray jailed him for 20 months by telling him:

'You are plainly an intelligent man and have written a poem about your position which I have read. 'I have this to say to you: Right now you feel down. You have got months to do. Despite what you have done, Let us hope the locked door, Will make you more sure not to come back for more.' The court had heard a Peugeot estate was stolen from Rothley, Leicstershire, on August 12. Jenna Latchford, prosecuting, said Snell filled it with £20 of petrol at a garage before driving away without paying at 3.30am the next morning.



He crashed into a lorry travelling southbound on the M1 less than one hour later, and fled the scene before trying to get away in another stolen car. The owner alerted police who stopped Snell as he rejoined the motorway. Snell, who has 50 previous convictions including dangerous driving, still had glass fragments in his eyes, caused by the crash, as well as a broken rib, broken thumb and a fractured eye socket. Nichola Higgins, defending, handed a latter and a poem to Judge Richard Bray which Snell had written in prison while awaiting sentence.

The judge said he hoped it was better than Shakespeare's sonnets which he had been read that morning on Radio 4's Today programme. Snell, of West Ham in London, pleaded guilty to five charges of aggravated taking of a vehicle, driving while disqualified and making off without payment. He was jailed for 20 months and banned from driving for two years. Miss Higgins added: 'This has been a real wake up call for him.'