A CONMAN who abandoned a pensioner in the countryside after driving off with the car he was selling was yesterday jailed for nine months.

Phillip Topp, 45, of no fixed address, left Eric Truby, 70, of Yarnton, stranded in his slippers with no money and no phone.

Oxford Crown Court heard that Topp had knocked on Mr Truby's door on August 4 this year after seeing a £4,600 Toyota Landcruiser 4x4 for sale outside.

Cathy Oliver, prosecuting, said: "He said he was interested in the vehicle and took it for a test drive."

She added Topp was driving the vehicle with his girlfriend in the passenger seat and Mr Truby in the back.

She said: "He did not go the way he was directed to go. He made Mr Truby feel very uneasy."

Ms Oliver said during through the journey, near Islip, Topp said he heard a sound coming from the rear of the vehicle.

She added when Mr Truby got out to investigate, Topp drove off.

Topp was caught by police when he was later found driving the car in West Yorkshire.

Ms Oliver said: "He said he did not initially mean to steal the vehicle but said on the test drive the idea of stealing the vehicle had come to him."

Sam Magee, defending, said: "He has shown remorse as to any harm caused to the elderly gentleman who was in the vehicle.

"This is clearly a man who doesn't think through his actions who was acting stupidly on the day.

"He's a 45-year-old man with an appalling criminal record, mostly for dishonesty and driving (offences). He simply appears to be a dishonest man.

"He's not a drug user who can be put on a course - he's a man who has been dishonest for most of his life."

The court also heard how Topp had run up a bill of £2,571 for a months' stay at the Cotswold Lodge Hotel in Banbury Road, Oxford, in February this year - but had left without paying.

Topp, who is serving time in jail for another offence, had admitted the two charges - obtaining services by deception and theft of a motor vehicle - at a previous hearing.

Sentencing Topp to a total of nine months in jail, Judge Julian Hall said: "I don't know whether you will ever come to your senses. I take into account your guilty plea."

Speaking from his home in Yarnton, Mr Truby said: "It is not long enough, he already had a criminal record. Anything could have happened, I was left in the middle of nowhere.

"He is evil to do that to a 70-year-old man."

His wife Rita, 68, said: "It has been a lot of worry for us. We'd like to thank the couple that took him home but we have never been able to find them.

"We never thought in our wildest dreams someone so evil would take Eric off still with his slippers on and not a penny in his pocket and leave him there.

"It has been a very trying and difficult time."