Oxford car thief has 'an unhealthy interest in other people's vehicles', says judge

Joseph Holden, who despite being only 28 years old has 65 offences on his rap sheet, showed little reaction in the dock as he was jailed by Judge Nigel Daly on Wednesday.

The judge told Holden: “You have got an appalling record for somebody of your age. You are committing offence after offence – many offences of dishonesty.

“It appears you have an unhealthy interest in other people’s motor vehicles.”

Oxford Crown Court heard that Holden and his friend, Kane Jones, booked a room at the Oxford House Bed and Breakfast, Kidlington, on January 7, 2020. They paid for the room in cash.

Later that evening, the B&B owner went out to pick up his son in his Vauxhall Antara, for which he’d paid £11,000 two years earlier.

When he left the house he noticed a man looking at him from the window of the room where Holden and Jones were staying. The man had hurriedly turned off the bedroom light, although his face was still illuminated from the light of the TV.

The B&B owner left his car keys by the front door, as he usually did. When he came down the following morning the keys and the car were both gone.

Two days later, Jones was behind the wheel of the Vauxhall – now on false plates – when he was stopped after a police chase.

Photographs on a phone found in the Vauxhall showed both men driving around in the car. On the day of the theft, Jones had texted Holden: “Get the [registration] plates. Hurry up. Get up, man.”

Joseph Holden, who has been jailed for 11 months at Oxford Crown Court Pictures: TVP

The car’s owner said in a victim personal statement that he was always telling his children to keep their belongings safe. He had faced some difficult questions from them following the theft.

Holden, of HMP Bullingdon, pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to theft. He had 32 convictions for 65 offences and was currently serving a sentence for handling parcels stolen from an Amazon delivery driver.

Mitigating, Richard Davies said his client had no children and, before being remanded, was looking to get into warehouse work as a member of agency staff.

Sentencing, Judge Daly told Holden: “The precise circumstances of the theft of this vehicle are unclear.

“You have pleaded guilty to its theft.”

He took a starting point of 20 months’ imprisonment, reducing it by a quarter to take into account his early guilty plea.

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