A car thief pinched a BMW from an ASDA car park after the owner left the keys on the boot.
Learner-driver Marvin Pennel, 31, was seen by police soon after it was taken on January 9 and quickly arrested.
He admitted charges of taking a motor vehicle without consent, driving otherwise than in accordance with a licence, and using a vehicle without third party insurance when he appeared at Camberwell Green Magistrates’ Court last Friday.
“Basically I was walking through ASDA to buy electric for my house,” he told the magistrates.
“I’ve just done a very stupid move,” he said. “By the time my adrenaline stopped pumping I was arrested.”
The court heard that this was not the first time Purnell had been arrested for pinching cars. The last conviction for a similar matter was in 2013, the prosecutor said. “You’ve got a thing about cars haven’t you?” asked the Magistrate. “What were you thinking?”
She then asked for a pre-sentence report to be prepared for this week.
Pennell, of Bellenden Road in Peckham, was granted unconditional bail until that time.
