A thief who managed to steal a tank from a top security army garrison was caught when he used to it to crush a parked car.

Jack Carroll's sniggering pals recorded the moment on a mobile phone as he slowly drove the massive Warrior armoured car over a white Vauxhall.

The video footage shows the car being crushed flat by the collosal tank.

Yesterday Carroll and his mother said the army was to blame for the incident for not making sure their barracks at Catterick, North Yorks ,was more secure.

Carroll, 22, admitted taking wthout consent Warrior armoured car number 35KG60 at Caterick barracks.

Provisional licence holder Carroll, of Dorset Road, Anfield, Liverpool, walked laughing from Northallerton Magistrates Court in North Yorkshire.

He told waiting media: "I have not got a battery in my mobile or I'd film you lot to show my mates."

He was sentenced to 200 hours communtiy service, banned from driving for a year, and ordered to pay £45 costs.

Outside court his Mum Tina Carroll, who travelled by train with her son from Liverpool to Northallerton said: "It is lucky he was a good intentioned young lad not a terrorist who got in that vehicle I think the Army must bear responsibility too."

Prosecutor David Tucker said the Warrior was taken by Carroll sometime between July 28 and August 21 last year.

The mobile ptelephone recording appeared on the internet in Autumn.

Mr Carroll's friends could clearly be heard shouting instructions on how to operate and stop the vehicle.

Mr Tucker said: "When the vehicle stops the person holding the camera moves to the front of the vehicle and the recording ends with a picture of the driver in the drivers' seat looking out and quite plainly gleeful at what he has just done.

"Maybe the matter was of some glee to the driver but it was a matter of some and was of concern to the army.

"A civilian should not have been in the barracks and should not have been given access to that vehcle.

"The army investigated and identified Mr Carroll was on the barracks when keys were accessible for maintenance purposes.

"Royal Military Police seeking evidence sought the person making the mobile recording.

"They found the defendant staying with a friend on the barracks.

"Carroll was interviewed and at that time denied being the person who had driven.

"However he was subsequently identified by a police officer on Merseyside who recognised him in the clear image on the video."

Mr Tucker said the owner of the White Vauxhall was found but he had abandoned the vehicle and was not concerned at its destruction.

Mitigating, Jane Scott said Carroll was on the Bourlon Barracks at the North Yorkshire training Camp.

The Duke of Lancaster 2nd Regiment from Merseyside had recently returned from an overseas posting and were mainly on leave, leaving the barracks almost empty.

She said: "Mr Carroll was coming and going and sleeping at his friends for about four or five weeks.

"During that time he tells me that hangars were left open and atnks and armoured vehicles although not armed were left unimmobilised.

"There was no need for a key to drive the vehicle - he simply pressed a button.

"During the time he was recorded he drove for all of 90 seconds.

"The vehicle was driven back to the hangar with no damage to it at all.

"You hear him being advised on how to drive the vehicle by serving military members.

"They are encouraging him from what they see as a lark.

"From subsequent publicity the military has accepted that this is not uncommon where young personnel have allowed friends to come in and have a drive out but not on a public road.

"The army has conceded that this is not something of a rarity and ordinarily they did not pursue it."

Outisde Court, Carroll said being prosecuted was "all a bit mad".

He said he'd not been told his friends had posted the video on Youtube.

* You can see the video by clicking on Audio-Video and searching for "tank" via the archive.