A debt-ridden young North man was so desperate for cash that he teamed up with a man from Port Glasgow to steal a Land Rover - to order - from a remote north Sutherland farm.
James Beresford (23), The Smithy, Achscrabster, Caithness, and Iain Callan (22), 19 South Street, Port Glasgow, took the Land Rover, which had been left with its keys in the ignition, from Loch Eriboll Farm on 14th August.
But police were lying in wait for them as they made their getaway in convoy with Beresford at the wheel of the stolen vehicle and Callan in the burgundy hatchback they had used to travel to the farm.
Officers were acting on a tip-off, but thought they were looking for poachers, procurator fiscal Roderick Urquhart told Dornoch Sheriff Court on Monday.
There followed a high-speed pursuit in the dead of night on the Tongue to Reay stretch of the main A836 North Coast road.
Both Beresford and Callan at times drove without lights in a bid to avoid capture. The two careered through the village of Reay at speeds in excess of the 40mph limit.
Beresford then veered off the road and drove straight through a farm gate. But recognising that the game was up, Callan had the good sense to stop.
Fiscal Mr Urquhart said: "The Land Rover turned off onto a farm track. Whether by accident or design, it drove through a closed gate, knocking down the gate and the gateposts.
"Police went after the other vehicle which was still on the road. Officers put on their blue lights and it stopped for them.
"Officers then searched the vehicle under the Fresh Water Fisheries Act - they were expecting to see evidence of poaching but what they found was the vehicle licence plate from the stolen Land Rover.
"That find linked Callan as the driver of the car with the theft of the Land Rover."
In the meantime Beresford had taken off but he was tracked down some time later. The two men appeared for sentencing at Dornoch Sheriff Court on Monday.
Both had admitted at a previous court stealing the Land Rover.
Beresford had also pleaded guilty to driving dangerously, at excessive speed and without lights in the hours of darkness on the A836 Tongue to Reay Road, in the village of Reay and on the Reay to Shebster Road near Achvarasdale.
Callan admitted a second charge of driving a car at excessive speed and without lights in Reay and on the Reay to Shebster Road.
At Monday's court Sheriff James Gilchrist observed that the suggestion in a background report was that the Land Rover had been stolen to order.
Representing Beresford, defence agent Neil Wilson responded: "Yes. It was not a spur of the moment decision."
He revealed that his client had become involved in the theft because he was deeply in debt - to the tune of around £20,000 - and could think of no other way out.
"Quite simply he got involved in this to scrape some money together to pay his debt.
"He did not seem to realise that help might be available," said the lawyer.
Following the incident, Beresford got a job as a HGV driver and also started working as a self-employed car mechanic.
The lawyer said his client had six live points on his licence and his new found occupations could be threatened if he was disqualified from driving.
Callan's agent Ian Innes said his client, a general labourer, also required his driving licence for work and, were he to lose it, his livelihood would be at stake.
Passing sentence on Beresford, Sheriff James Gilchrist said that in the normal course of events he would have ended up going to prison because of the serious nature of the offence and also because of his previous record.
However the sheriff said that after reading a report prepared by social workers he was convinced there was sufficient mitigation to give Beresford a Community Payback Order rather than a jail sentence.
The sheriff also ordered that he be supervised by social workers for 18 months, attend courses and counselling as directed and undertake 250 hours' unpaid work.
Beresford was in addition banned from driving for six months.
Sheriff Gilchrist fined Callan £400 and endorsed his licence by nine penalty points.
