A MAN charged with taking a car without its owners consent woke up in the vehicle’s passenger seat having crashed into a wall, a court heard.

Liam Andrew Dunne, from Barrow, was said to have written off the car after he and a friend took his partner’s vehicle before crashing into the wall of a golf course.

The 41-year-old defendant pleaded guilty to aggravated vehicle taking when he appeared before South Cumbria Magistrates’ Court.

Prosecutor Peter Bardsley said it happened between November 8 and 9.

He told magistrates the car’s owner only knew her Ford Fiesta had been taken when police informed her it had been crashed into two boundary walls in Ulverston, one belonging to Ulverston Golf Club and the other to Oxley Developments.

Mr Bardsley said: “Police officers attended Ulverston Golf Course because that vehicle was embedded in a three-foot high dry stone wall.

“The vehicle’s keys were found on the golf course nearby.

“The wall belongs to Oxley Developments.

“The defendant only recalls getting in the passenger seat of the vehicle and waking up in the vehicle.”

Dunne was represented in court by Michael Graham.

The solicitor said: “The rightful owner of the vehicle is his then partner who didn’t give them permission to drive it."

He said Dunne was currently not working and receiving universal credit and has a 14-year-old who lives with him and a 19-year-old daughter.

Mr Graham told the court the car had been written off due to extensive front end damage.

For the offence, Dunne, of Powerful Street on Walney, was sentenced to a community order.

The defendant was told he must undertake 120 hours of unpaid work in the next 12 months.

He was also told to pay compensation of £673 to Oxley Developments and £400 to the golf club for the damage caused.

As well that magistrates banned Dunne from driving for the next 12 months.