A MAN and woman who dragged a young girl out of the passenger seat of a car in Glenmavis, before stealing it, have been sentenced.
Gary Thomson, 32 will spend 32 months in jail and has been disqualified from driving for seven years.
Sarah Blakeway, 31, was ordered to carry out 240 hours of unpaid work and given a restriction of liberty order for a nine-month period.
The pair had pled guilty to a charge of assault and robbery on March 3 at Airdrie Sheriff Court.
On November 3 last year, a 15-year-old girl was sitting in the passenger seat of her mother’s car which was parked outside a local shop in Coatbridge Road, Glenmavis
Hamilton Sheriff Court heard that Blakeway assaulted the girl, opening the front passenger door and dragging her out of the car by her hair as Thomson entered the driver’s seat.
Blakeway then jumped into the passenger seat as the car drove away.
The motor vehicle was abandoned a short time later in a nearby car park, with the culprits traced and arrested several days later.
The girl was not injured during the incident.
Les Brown, procurator fiscal for South Strathclyde, said: “This type of offending, involving as it does an unprovoked attack on a child and the theft of a vehicle in a small village on a quiet Sunday morning, is extremely rare in this area.
“As such, I welcome the conviction and sentence and the message it sends.
“We will not tolerate this type of behaviour.
“I wish to thank everyone involved with the case and, in particular, the police officers who obtained the key evidence that allowed our prosecutors to secure this conviction.”
