A man who stole a luxury car by pushing the owner out during a test drive in Loughton has been jailed for three-and-a-half years.

Austin Ugochukwu, 27, pleaded guilty to robbery and handling stolen goods at Chelmsford Crown Court, where he was sentenced to prison on Tuesday (January 19).

On May 22 2015 Ugochukwu, of Orpington in Kent, arranged to test drive a black Mercedes CDI Coupe after seeing it advertised online.

He travelled to the 27-year-old owner’s home in East Ham and took the car for a drive.

The victim was driving the luxury car in Chigwell Lane, Loughton, at around 9pm when Ugochukwu, who was sitting in the passenger seat, asked to take a look at the engine ‘because he thought it was making a strange noise’.

As the owner opened the door, Ugochukwu shoved him out of the car and drove off – not realising it was fitted with a tracking device.

The Mercedes was found parked in Farnborough, London, just after 12.30pm the next day with false registration plates.

The thief was then arrested when he returned to the car later that day.

After being released on bail while detectives investigated, he was arrested again on August 4 on suspicion of robbery when he was found with the keys to a BMW which had been stolen in Buckhurst Hill the day before.

Ugochukwu pleaded guilty to one count of robbery for stealing the Mercedes, and one of handling stolen goods for the second offence.

He was sentenced to 32 months imprisonment for the first charge and 10 months in prison for the second, with the sentences to run consecutively.

The judge also ordered Ugochukwu to pay a victim surcharge of £120.

Both cars were recovered and returned to their owners.