AN Oldham car thief was caught after getting the Suzuki he stole from an Ashton showroom stuck on a tram line.

At a sentencing for dangerous driving and aggravated vehicle theft at Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court on Thursday, Lisa Boocock, prosecuting, shared the trail of destruction Ibrahim Mohammed Ashraf left in his wake.

She told the court that on February 19, Ashraf visited the Colin Appleyard Motors, a Suzuki dealership in Ashton.

While being shown a Suzuki Ignis by a salesman the 37-year-old got into the driver’s seat and sped off in the car.

A sales assistant managed to block the forecourt’s exit with a vehicle and a bollard.

Undeterred, Ashraf proceeded to drive into it before reversing into another car.

He then hit a third car before driving around the forecourt at 20mph while being chased on foot by salesmen at the showroom.

Ashraf then rammed into the car blocking the exit once more and managed to get out of the forecourt, leaving an estimated £60,000 worth of damage in his wake.

The car thief then drove the Suzuki to Oldham and via a manoeuvre that damaged yet another vehicle managed to get the car stuck on a tramline.

He was arrested and police matched his clothes to those worn by the man on the dealership’s CCTV footage.

During the incident, Ashraf hit and damaged a total of six cars at the dealership.

Ashraf, of Linden Avenue, pleaded guilty to two counts of dangerous driving and one count of aggravated vehicle theft.

At the time of the incident, he was disqualified from driving and did not have insurance.

In a victim statement, one of the staff at the dealership said: “My colleagues and customers could have been hurt.

“My colleagues don’t come into work thinking this type of thing is going to happen.”

In mitigation, defence barrister Mark Fireman said Ashraf, whose heroin and crack cocaine addiction led him to be estranged from his family, was homeless at the time of the incident and took the car for somewhere to sleep for the night.

He added that Ashraf was ‘not thinking clearly’ at the time of the incident, felt ‘deep regret’ for his actions that day and ‘wishes he could turn back time’.

Mr Fireman said that having spent two months in custody HMP Doncaster Ashraf is now drug-free and has reconciled with his family who will support him on his release.

Judge Angela Nield said Ashraf’s guilty plea was his strongest mitigation.

She said Ashraf had an “appalling record of convictions” including driving without insurance, driving when disqualified, aggravated vehicle taking and failing to give a specimen.

She said Ashraf’s latest offence demonstrated his “lack of respect or regard of others and their property”.

The judge added: “He ran a mock in that vehicle” adding: “It’s a miracle nobody got seriously hurt”.

Ashraf was given sentence of 21 months and eight weeks imprisonment and is disqualified from driving for three years and 11 months.