If you came across a factory which had access to the car of your dreams would you take it for a spin?
Jason Boon did just that when he took the keys to a £200,000 Aston Martin after stumbling across the car factory.
He'd been on a night out with friends, had an argument with them, was kicked out the car, and trying to walk home, when he came across the place near Southam in Warwickshire.
The 45-year-old took the keys, got in the car, took it for a little drive around the warehouse, before driving it straight out of the unmanned, and faulty, gates.
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His penalty for doing so was a ten-month sentence, suspended for two years, after he admitted burglary, aggravated vehicle taking and having no insurance.
Recorder Alastair Smith, who sentenced Boon on Friday at Warwick Crown Court, said: "The facts of this case are highly unusual.
"Having been left by some friends following an argument, you walked towards some buildings.
"These, it transpired, were the Aston Martin factory where, due to an error in their security system, the doors were opening independently.
"You were able to go inside to an area where cars were being given final adjustments before sale."
He then explained that Boon had ready access to the keys, and whilst driving around the factory the doors automatically opened for him.
He took the left-hand drive, which he was no stranger to having lived in the United States, and caused what usually would be called 'limited' damage.
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The car had some scuff marks and wheel rim damage.
"But because of the status of the vehicle," Smith continued, "the result of your actions is that this £200,000 vehicle has been written off."
He also explained how as it was not his original plan to steal the vehicle his sentence would be suspended, but had it been part of a 'targeted operation' a 'substantial' custodial sentence would instead have been handed down.
He added: "Your actions were impulsive in a unique set of circumstances."
In addition to the suspended sentence, Boon has been banned from driving for 12 months and ordered to pay £200 costs.
Boon was caught by a police tracker dog which located him at his house when the Aston was found without a number plate.
In his defence, Paul O'Keefe said that he had been trying to find his location after being left with friends, the lights he saw in the distance were that of the factory.
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He said: "He tried one of the cars, and it started up. He drove round the factory and then found the gate open, and he drove out. He drove to a friend's home and then drove round.
"He was feeling in a very low place at the time. Once he found himself in the Aston Martin factory with no-one about, it was, as he put it, '100 percent heaven'."
Boon was clearly as ambitious as the eight-year-old who stole his dad's car to drive to McDonald's on his own.
Using YouTube videos to teach himself, the young boy travelled a mile-and-a-half in East Palestine, Ohio, US. Police were called and the parents had to pick him up from the local cop shop.
No charges were filed, but still, what an effort. Who could really deny the child a cheeseburger.
Featured Image Credit: PA