A CAR thief who sped off injuring a terrified woman motorist who was clinging on to the vehicle has been jailed for three years and four months.

Nicholas Beck, 27, sprang into the silver Vauxhall Astra while Samina Shaheem was leaning into the passenger side to retrieve the contents of her handbag that had spilled into the footwell, Bradford Crown Court heard.

Ms Shaheem had pulled over on Drill Parade, Manningham, Bradford, to collect her scattered belongings, leaving the car engine running and the driver's door open.

Beck, a banned driver, seized his opportunity to steal the vehicle, worth £10,000, to sell on to pay off a drug debt, the court was told yesterday.

Prosecutor James Gelsthorpe said he "lurched backwards" in the Astra before driving it away, at 2pm on July 6 last year.

Beck, of Dawnay Road, Canterbury, Bradford, was originally charged with robbery and dangerous driving but the Crown accepted his guilty pleas to the offences of theft and assaulting Ms Shaheem, causing her actual bodily harm.

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He had 35 previous convictions and was at the time disqualified from driving until November 2018, Mr Gelsthorpe said.

Beck's criminal record included offences of threatening behaviour, driving with excess alcohol and driving while uninsured.

The stolen car was recovered by the police on August 18 after another person was caught driving it on false registration plates.

Since the incident, Ms Shaheem had suffered back problems and nightmares and she no longer felt safe driving.

Beck's barrister, Nigel Jamieson, said he had the support of his family, who were in court.

It was an impulsive and opportunistic theft. He had not gone out that day to take a car.

Beck had run up a cannabis debt and thought that stealing the vehicle and selling it on would be a way of paying the money back.

He had quickly parted with the vehicle for a modest sum.

Judge Jonathan Durham Hall QC said the vehicle, which was worth £10,000 "and more to its owner" was sold on for a pitiful amount.

Mrs Shaheem, who was partly inside the car, fell out of the vehicle after hanging on to it.

The judge told Beck: "You were on drugs, you have previous convictions and you knew you could sell it. This was a vulnerable victim and involved the use of the car to cause her injury."