FOURTEEN members of an organised crime gang have received a combined sentence of more than 50 years for their role in a sophisticated enterprise stealing and selling-on high-value vehicles.
About £4 million worth of vehicles, including a BMW, Range Rover, Volvo, Honda Accord 2.2 Sport, VW Passat, Mini Cooper, Audi A3 and Land Rover Discovery, were stolen and later sold by the gang who committed the crimes across North Yorkshire, East Yorkshire, West Yorkshire and Lancashire last year.
Members of the gang broke into targeted homes to steal the keys to the car parked on the driveway. The cars were then sold-on using cloned licence plates and forged documentation to unsuspecting buyers through Autotrader and other such sell-on sites.
Nevada Smith, 29, of Doncaster, John Doyle, 24, of Bradford, Richard Butler, 26, of Hatfield, Manzoor Akhtar, 22, of Bradford, Francis Lupton, 20, Bradford, Nicholas Tidswell, 23, of Bradford, Matthew Richard Holmes, 29, Bradford, Anthony David Jackson, 29, of Leeds, Arthur Gaskin, 23, Barnsley, Anthony Nolan, 51, of Barnsley, Craig Stanley, 35, Victoria Laws, 41, of Barnsley, and Gary Swinden, 52, of Barnsley were all found guilty of a combination of charges including conspiring to burgle, conspiring to handle stolen goods and conspiring to defraud.
They were arrested in April this year following a three-day strike by the four police forces of Yorkshire and the Humber and Lancashire police force following months of surveillance and investigation work.
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