PROSERPINE Magistrates Court heard on Monday how a man who stole a car from a Proserpine parking lot was eventually caught because the driver spotted him driving past her.

Brent Allen Jones, 25, pleaded guilty to three charges including unlawful entry of a vehicle, driving on a disqualified licence and possessing a drug utensil.

Police prosecutor Sergeant Sabine Scott said the vehicle was stolen between the night of August 20 and the morning of August 21 when the owner of the vehicle went to collect her car from the Proserpine Entertainment Centre car park around 8am and found it was gone.

After notifying police and getting a lift home to Cannonvale with friends, the owner of the car and her friends then noticed the stolen vehicle being driven by Jones on Shute Harbour Rd heading towards Proserpine.

Sgt Scott said the owner and her friends then "immediately turned around and followed the vehicle”.

They followed the vehicle to Compton St in Proserpine and police soon arrived and arrested Jones. He told them he thought the car "was his mother's” and that he took it with the intention of driving it home to sleep in it.

Then a search warrant executed at a Proserpine address on August 26 found Jones to be in possession of a pipe.

Defence solicitor Raymond Taylor said Jones had been diagnosed with mental health issues and apologised to everyone involved in the incident.

After hearing Jones had a long criminal history, Magistrate Simon Young sentenced him to 12 months probation with urine analysis for therapeutic intervention and disqualified him from driving for two and a-half years and had convictions recorded.