Car insurance news
A 22-year-old with over 50 previous motoring offences is unlikely to be able to find a cheap car insurance deal for many years after finally being sent to prison by a Belfast court.
Even the fantastic prices offered by specialist young driver car insurance firms aren't going to be able to help Stephen Finnegan as a judge finally lost patience with his constant lawbreaking and sentenced him to four years behind bars.
Finnegan, of no fixed abode, pleaded guilty to two counts of aggravated vehicle taking, two counts of driving whilst disqualified, two counts of driving with no motor insurance and one count of being equipped for theft.
Police had arrested him on January 29th 2005 when they spotted a stolen Vauxhall Corsa speeding and doing handbrake turns in west Belfast. He was pursued and crashed into a police Land Rover whilst trying to escape.
A month later he was arrested again after being stopped at a police checkpoint in the possession of another stolen car whilst driving with no motor insurance. This was just the latest in a long line of offences including burglary and assault, and the last straw for authorities.
Sentencing, Judge Rodgers said that Finnegan had the "worst record of someone I have encountered of this age."