A MAN who cashed in on rising fuel prices by selling stolen diesel has been jailed.

Taffin Betnay stole number plates from around the city and attached them to his girlfriend’s hire car while she was at work and filled up with a total of £1,213.28 of diesel.

He would drive off without paying and then offer the diesel to others at half-price.

The spree, which began at the start of this month and ended upon his arrest on Wednesday, was triggered by the unemployed 20-year-old’s desire to earn a bit of extra cash, Oxford Magistrates’ Court heard on Thursday.

Betnay, of Benouville Close, Cowley, admitted taking a car without consent, theft from a motor vehicle, driving without a licence, driving without insurance, going equipped for theft and making off without payment. He also asked for three other counts of stealing number plates and eight counts of making off without payment to be taken into consideration.

He was jailed for 18 weeks and given six penalty points.