Boat thief sails free from court
19 October 2007
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| King was in the process of painting the Holly blue when he was finally tracked down |
A PAINTER and decorator who sparked a nationwide manhunt after stealing a £40,000 narrowboat from a hire company has been given a suspended jail sentence.
David King, aged 52, formerly of Kingsmead, St Albans, hired the 47-foot boat from Middlewich Narrowboats in Cheshire on March 9 for a fortnight at a cost of £1,000 per week.
When he failed to return the boat on March 23, boat owner Adam Foskett reported it missing but King managed to evade capture on the canals for five weeks in the vessel which has a top speed of 4mph. Chester Crown Court on Friday heard how King had been tracked down to Oxfordshire where he was found by Mr Foskett and his father on April 27 attempting to repaint and modify the boat called Holly.
Peter Hussey, prosecuting, said King had managed to run up £42,000 in late fees for failing to return it to its owners. He added: "The owner of the boat, Adam Foskett, went to some lengths to try and track it down. He had heard it had gone as far as Llangollen or even Warwickshire, and eventually he went to the Rock of Gibraltar pub in Warwick where he found someone who told him they thought they had seen the boat.
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| David King |
"King was undertaking a repainting exercise and when he saw Mr Foskett approach he calmly stepped ashore and walked away but ultimately stopped and said, 'the game is up now'."
The court heard that King had made so many alterations to the boat that the owners were forced to spend around £29,000 restoring it.
Brett William-son, defending, said King had significant financial problems at the time of his disappearance and had been forced to sell the family home since his arrest.
He added: "His escapist, opportunistic approach to his debts and his problems at home resulted in considerable financial consequences for Middlewich Boat Hire."
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| The Holly had been hired from Middlewich Narrowboats for a fortnight |
Sentencing King, Recorder of Chester Elgan Edwards said: "Your behaviour was quite bizarre and I'm bound to say quite inexplicable. Due to stress engendered by debts and family pressures you went off the rails and stole a narrow boat and then went off for a month. That is very off behaviour."
King was given a six-month sentence suspended for two years and made the subject of a 12-month supervision order. No order for compensation was made.
Speaking after the court case, Adam Foskett said he felt let down by the justice system because he and his father had been the ones to track the boat down, not the police. He also felt the sentence handed down to King was far too lenient and sent out the wrong message.
Although the insurance company had paid up for repairs to the boat, the settlement had not covered his firm's loss of earnings during the time Holly was out of service.
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