A car thief caught napping by police has been jailed for stealing the vehicle he was found asleep in just hours earlier.

Tired Freddie Stephens was found by police in a Volkswagen Passat which had gone missing from a home in New Ash Green .

Officers were investigating suspicious activity in the Swanley area on October 31 when they received reports of two men sleeping in a parked car in Eynsford Road.

The dozing Stephens, who has a long criminal record and was described by a detective as a "prolific offender", and his pal were inside the car catching some shut eye when police arrived.

But when an officer knocked on the car's window and opened a door to check on them, the pair tried to flee the scene.

Stephens assaulted an officer as he struggled to resist arrest. A lock knife was found on him during a search when he was arrested.

The second man managed to escape and remains at large, police said today.

"Had he not been caught, I have no doubt he would have carried out further offences..."

An investigation was launched to find the owner of the Passat and it was confirmed the car had been stolen overnight from Spring Cross in New Ash Green.

Now Stephens, of no fixed address, is sleeping in a prison cell after pleading guilty to three charges.

The 20-year-old admitted counts of burglary, assault by beating of an emergency worker and possessing a knife in a public place.

He was jailed for three years and six months.

DC Lucy Basson, of West Kent CID, said: "Freddie Stephens is a repeat and prolific offender. He was on licence at the time of this latest offence and clearly appears incapable of changing his ways.

"Had he not been caught, I have no doubt he would have carried out further offences, causing distress to further victims."

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