A disqualified driver was reported by his mother after he stole her car after a Boxing Day party.

Damien Bristow, 19, was sent to a Young Offenders Institute for eight months after being caught behind the wheel while disqualified for the fourth time.

Sheriff Margaret Neilson also banned him for another six years, but said: "Does he not understand disqualification? It is a shocking record."

Depute fiscal Heather Swan said Bristow’s mother had gone to bed at 8pm following a busy day hosting a Boxing Day lunch party for family, including her son.

But, by 10pm, she noticed her car had vanished from the parking bay outside her house in Grantown-on-Spey.

Ms Swan said: "She suspected her son of taking the vehicle and contacted him by mobile phone.

"He stated he was in fact in the vehicle with a friend and they were going to Aviemore to buy some cigarettes."

Bristow's mother reported the matter to police and they discovered the vehicle at 1.10am the following morning on the Grantown to Tomintoul road.

It was not until 11.20am that they traced Bristow to a friend’s house.

The fiscal said the teenager had only been handed his latest ban in June, and he was disqualified from driving until the summer of 2016.

Defence lawyer Duncan Henderson admitted: "I have to accept that he has a bad record. This is his fourth driving while disqualified offence."

Bristow, of Muirton Place, Boat of Garten, admitted charges of driving while disqualified and taking a car without the owner’s consent on December 26 2011.

Sheriff Neilson told him: "Given your record of previous convictions and the fact this is youth fourth conviction of driving while disqualified custody is the only option."