THIEVES who took a £500 caravan from a Kidderminster estate did not realise it was fitted with a fake wheel as a security device, Worcester Crown Court was told.

Police were alerted as neighbours on Spennells estate saw the caravan, with only one proper wheel, gouge a long scar in the road surface, said Glyn Samuel, prosecuting.

The caravan was abandoned after 400 yards and police were waiting when the thieves returned in another car to collect the towing vehicle.

Christopher Ward, 19, of Park Street, Kidderminster, who admitted the theft, was sentenced to six months detention. Judge Derek Stanley said it bore all the hallmarks of a professional crime.

Matthew Lavelle, 20, also of Park Street, who had previously pleaded guilty to the theft, did not appear for sentence and a warrant was issued for his arrest.

Ward had previously been sentenced by Kidderminster magistrates to a two-year community rehabilitation order for a series of night-time thefts from cars. He appealed against being ordered to pay £3,100 compensation to the car owners.

Miss Blondelle Thompson, for Ward, said he had no money, had been out of work and in custody since last October. There was no way he could pay the compensation. She added he had matured since last year and was no longer obsessed with cars.

The judge quashed the compensation order, saying the magistrates were wrong in principle to impose such an order on someone with no means to pay it.