A MECHANIC who took his manager’s Porsche for a spin after a night on the town has escaped jail.

Adam Booth, 30, was working for G’day Kombis, in Burcot, when he took the Porsche belonging to then employer Andrew Rogers for a drive.

Oxford Crown Court heard he had drunk four or five pints at the pub after work and had intended to come back to his workplace to sleep it off.

Prosecuting, Paul Harrison told the court temptation got the better of Booth, who took the Porsche, lost it on a sharp bend and drove into a ditch.

The accident caused between £19,000 and £23,000 of damage to the £32,000 sports car.

Booth, who lives in Flackwell Heath, High Wycombe, and has three children, had a previous conviction of drink-driving and two of driving while disqualified, dating to 2005 and 2007.

He admitted aggravated vehicle taking and using a vehicle with no insurance. But no drink-driving charge was brought against him. Judge Christopher Compston sentenced Booth to a year’s community order, 150 hours’ unpaid work, ordered him to pay £1,000 in compensation, and disqualified him from driving for a year.