Napier teen who stole two police cars in a night while handcuffed jailed for 20 months

19-year-old Malcolm Wallace was sentenced to a year and 8 months' jail when he appeared before Judge Bridget Mackintosh on Friday. Photo / File

A teenager's lockdown escapade involving stealing two police cars has resulted in him being locked up again, after an appearance in Napier District Court.

Malcolm Wallace, 19, was sentenced to a year and eight months' jail when he appeared before Judge Bridget Mackintosh today.

Two years ago, appearing in the same court as Malcolm Karauria, he was sentenced to nine months' jail for offences that included the theft of several slabs of granite from a Napier stone firm.

The latest offences happened during the March 25 to April 27 Covid-19 alert level 4 lockdown and included taking two private vehicles and the two police cars while he was on bail.

After taking a car on April 2, Wallace was tracked to a house and arrested for offences including cultivation of cannabis plants found on the property.

Released on bail, he took another vehicle in Napier on April 9 and escaped capture after a chase during which he collided with a motorist's car and two police vehicles in Napier.

Spotted in a stolen car three days later, he was arrested and handcuffed in Havelock North, but taking advantage of a short time alone in a patrol car and getting his hands from behind his back to in front of him while climbing from the rear seat to get behind the wheel, he managed to get into a position to drive off.

Found more than 150km away in Taihape he was again arrested, handcuffed and placed in another police car, but repeated his act of contortion in what was a short and final bid for freedom, which ended when police used road spikes to stop the car.

Among the charges to which he pleaded guilty was one of breaching the Civil Defence Emergency Act. Others included unlawfully taking cars, dangerous driving and escaping from lawful custody.