A motorist was robbed at knifepoint of his VW Polo as he sat in a car park in Herne Bay.

A seven inch kitchen knife was held at Barry Moss’ shoulderblades and he was told to hand over his keys.

Two men got into the silver Polo and drove out of the car park, crashing into kerbs and a bollard.

The car was seen doing 70mph in a 30mph limit before heading towards Canterbury then towards Margate on the A28 before turning into a country lane towards Herne where it crashed into a ditch, said Mary Westcott, prosecuting.

Police arrested the two occupants and on Thursday, Robert Mitchell, 22, of no fixed address was jailed for four years for robbery and aggravated vehicle taking.

His passenger, Michael O’Shea, 24, of Hillbrow Avenue, Sturry, had admitted being carried in a vehicle taken without consent and was given a two-year community order with a condition he attends the Think First programme and has as least six sessions with an employment and training officer.

When police arrived at the crash site, O’Shea was shouting and abusive and had to be restrained and handcuffed.

Mitchell escaped having kicked a woman police officer in the face as she tried to stop him and was found soon after on top of a JCB digger.

He was eventually persuaded to come down and arrested.

The car, valued at £1,700 was severely damaged and Mr Moss and a friend who had been with him said they found the incident traumatic and upsetting and were scared of repercussions.

Both accused had been drinking and O’Shea told police he thought Mitchell was just going to look at cars and didn’t realise he had a knife.

He was told to get in the car but didn’t want to be part of it.

When breath tested Mitchell was significantly over the legal alcohol limit.

He had previous convictions for aggravated vehicle taking and other driving and violence related matters and was currently in custody his licence having been recalled from a previous sentence.

His lawyer, Philip Rowley, said Mitchell faced difficult circumstances on his release.

He had made arrangements while in custody for work in the railway safety industry but couldn’t take up the job because of a lack of appropriate accommodation.

He felt he hadn’t been fully supported by the probation service as he had hoped and although there was no criticism, he felt he was without direction and support in the community and turned to drink.

Mitchell suggested to the writer of his pre-sentence report that his behaviour was a subconscious attempt to attract detection and incarceration because of his difficulties, said Mr Rowley.

He appreciated a custodial sentence was inevitable but at the time was in a troubled state of mind but had since sought help for his problems.

Sarah Naylor, for O’Shea, said he wasn’t aware of what was planned for that night and didn’t know Mitchell had a knife.

He had two similar previous convictions from 2007 and had received a suspended sentence which was activated after a problem with his alcohol treatment requirement.

As a teenager he was diagnosed with ADHD and fell into drinking but had now got his emotional problems and drinking under control and had distanced himself from old associates.

Sentencing O’Shea, Judge Timothy Nash said prison would not achieve very much and he was taking an exceptional course to persuade O’Shea to put his criminal past behind him.

He told Mitchell: “Robbery of anything is serious enough because it affects those who are robbed and when you start robbing people of a motor vehicle, it is that much more serious and these two offences have aggravating features.”

He said he was not affected by Mitchell’s appalling record and gave him full credit for his pleas.