Brody Scott Thompson, 18, pleads guilty to his 10th charge of unlawful use of motor vehicle

The 18-year-old was on his 10th charge of unlawful use of a motor vehicle this year – and it put him behind bars.

A Toowoomba teenager with a penchant for riding around in stolen cars has received his second jail term for the offence of unlawful use of a motor vehicle.

Brody Scott Thompson, 18, appeared before Toowoomba Magistrates Court on Friday via video link from the prison to plead guilty to riding in a stolen car in the early hours of July 27.

Police prosecutor Kinsley Weir told the court the car’s owner had woken about 2am to her dog barking and looked out to see her car missing.

About an hour later, Thompson was seen getting out of the passenger seat to refuel the car at a Highfields 7/11 but the counter attendant, suspecting something was amiss, shut down the fuel pump and the two men in the Volkswagen Golf drove off, Senior Constable Weir said.

Soon after police activated a tyre deflation device as the Golf drove through Harlaxton and the two men fled on foot with Thompson quickly apprehended.

On parole at the time from a previous sentence, Thompson spent the ensuing 69 days in jail before pleading guilty to the charge on Friday.

His solicitor Claire Graham, of Skuse Graham Lawyers, told the court her client had endured a “traumatic upbringing” and now accepted he had an issue with the drug Subutex.

Because this offence came soon after he was released on parole for previous offending, Thompson was likely to serve out the entirety of that eight-month jail sentence, she said.

Magistrate Kay Philipson noted this was Thompson’s 10th charge of unlawfully using a motor vehicle.

Accepting he was a passenger in the car, Ms Phillipson sentenced Thompson to four months in jail but, declaring the 69 days pre-sentence custody as time served, ordered he be eligible to apply for parole immediately.