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Man Sentenced for Stealing, Cleaning Cars

Posted on: Thursday, 8 April 2004, 06:00 CDT

SHEFFIELD, England - Colin Sadd might be the man you'd prefer to steal your car, but he's going to jail again.

Sadd, 41, who has 155 previous convictions, was sentenced Wednesday to six years in jail after pleading guilty to stealing five cars and admitting responsibility for 31 other thefts.

Sadd's modus operandi is to dress up in a suit, go to an auto dealer and ask for a test drive. The car never returns, but is abandoned after being spotlessly cleaned.

"He looked after the cars he stole better than me," said his wife, Mary, who added that Sadd has never owned a car.

"He only takes brand new vehicles, drives them around for a couple of hours, then he cleans them inside and out. He will even buy a tin of polish to give them an extra sparkle and sometimes takes them to a car wash to get them extra clean."

Psychiatrists have said that Sadd has a compulsive disorder, and a judge in a previous case described him as "the man you would most want to steal your car."

"He has never hurt anyone and he desperately needs help with his obsession," his wife said. "If he was a pedophile or a mugger they would be falling over backwards to help him, but because he is fascinated with taking cars and cleaning them nobody wants to know."

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