Thief stole Rushden nurse's car after attending appointment

A thief who went for an appointment at a Rushden clinic fled in a nurse's car after stealing her keys.

Shona Smith, 32, has been jailed after driving off from Rushden Medical Centre in the victim's Peugeot 208 earlier this year.

Smith - who was on a suspended sentence after stealing £2,000 from a Corby bank - went for an appointment with the nurse at the Adnitt Road site at about 5pm on January 6.

The nurse briefly left the room and when she returned she noticed her car keys were not there.

When she ran outside she saw Smith, formerly of Queensway in Higham Ferrers, accelerating away and making the tyres screech, police said.

The car was later found abandoned under a mile away in Shirley Road.

At Northampton Magistrates' Court this month Smith, now of HMP Peterborough, admitted theft of a motor vehicle, driving without insurance, driving otherwise than in accordance with a licence and driving without due care and attention.

Magistrates jailed Smith for a total of 36 weeks.

The thief was ordered to pay costs of £105 and a victim surcharge of £122, with six points added to Smith's driving record.

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