Notorious Thief Addicted To Touching Cars Receives 5-Year Ban On Vehicle Contact

Many of us have our own little compulsions, and we’ll wager that many of you reading this have your own obsessions with cars — whether it be setting the seating position just so, getting the climate control temperature just right, or ensuring your car’s cabin is spick and span. But I’ll wager none of us have been threatened with jail time over any of them.

However, UK resident Paul Priestly has been handed a nine-month suspended sentence for a car-related addiction. In addition, the Peterborough Magistrates’ Court has banned him from touching cars for the next five years. As his compulsion was to break into vehicles, we can begin to understand the ruling.

Described by ITV News as a “career criminal,” Priestly has a record stretching over 29 years. The 44-year-old has hundreds of theft-related offenses and was released from prison in June of last year. Recently, he was caught on camera trying out door handles and attempting to gain access to unattended vehicles.

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When arrested, he was found with a lock knife and cannabis on his person. It came to light that he had already been handed a five-year Criminal Behavior Order back in March 2018 prohibiting him from doing exactly the same. But, as soon as it ended, Priestly started offending again.

The defending lawyer argued that Priestly had not taken hard drugs, nor had he committed any violent offenses. The lawyer also claimed that his client was “addicted” to trying car door handles.

Police constable Olivia Ciani said: “Priestley will chance his luck trying door handles of cars until he finds one that is open and will search it for anything of value that he can then sell on for cash.

“We will continue to work with him, alongside probation and other agencies, to try to steer him away from criminality; however, for as long as he chooses to commit a crime, we will continue to put him before the courts.”

In addition to the suspended sentence and ban on touching cars, the convicted must complete a 10-day rehabilitation program and observe a daily 11 pm–6 am curfew until 2027.