Teenager who stole car with two children in the back sentenced to two years
A teenager has been sentenced to two years in detention after he stole a car with two children still in the back seats.
Martin Cawley was high on drugs when he got into a parked car and drove off during the incident in Enfield, north London, on July 2.
The children’s 27-year-old mother had been on her way to a wedding at the time and had stopped off to buy them crisps.
A 12-year-old girl managed to escape by jumping out of the car - grazing her arm - shortly after Cawley drove off, despite her shouting “no, no”.
Cawley, 19, later dumped the 11-month-old baby boy on the doorstep of a house in Guinevere Gardens, Cheshunt, Hertfordshire, where he was found uninjured.
The teen then parked the car at his aunt’s house before smoking a joint and telling his aunt that he had just got a new car and needed new number plates.
Escape: CCTV footage shows the moment the girl jumped from the car after it was stolen (PA)
MORE: Thief steals venetian blind from store after hiding it in the HOOD of his jacket
MORE: Dinner lady murder: The chilling and ‘brutally honest’ interview teen, 15, gave after double killing
Police found the car, having tracked the mother’s phone, and the baby was discovered nearby 10 minutes later. His nappy had been changed by the woman whose doorstep the baby had been left on.
Cawley was arrested on July 19, and admitted to police that he had been high on drugs at the time of the incident.
He pleaded guilty to kidnap, child abduction and aggravated vehicle taking and was sentenced to two years in a young offenders institution.
Prosecutor Nick Cribb told Wood Green Crown Court: "At the plea hearing, the Crown said that this case represented every parents’ worst nightmare. We do not renege on that.
"This was an offence of unspeakable cruelty to the children involved and the parents.”
In an impact statement the mother said she still has nightmares that her baby has been abducted and worries she will struggle to part with him when he starts education.
She added: ”I feel things will never be the same again.”
Top pic: PA
