Keyless car thieves who went on a £2million spree taking high value cars managed to accidentally kidnap a three-year-old boy inside a Volvo.
Alfie Brown, 31, and Andre Clark, 33, stole the Volvo in Chigwell, Greater London, but slammed on the brakes when they realised their error, injuring the boy.
The ringleaders and their three associates have been sentenced to a total of 13 years and five months, after stealing at least 170 vehicles worth an estimated £2 million across London using a device disguised as a Game Boy for four years.
Snaresbrook Crown Court heard the toddler was strapped into his car seat when the crooks sped off in May 2021.
Once they realised the mistake, the pair ditched the motor and the child inside it, who had sustained minor injuries.
The ringleaders of a car theft gang managed to steal a Volvo in 2021 without realising there was a three-year-old boy in the back
Andre Clarke (left) and Alfie Brown (right) stole the motor in Chigwell, Greater London, in 2021 but slammed on the brakes when they realised their error, injuring the boy
The gang who stole high value cars using a device disguised as a Game Boy (seen on CCTV) have been locked up for a combined 13 years and five months
The gang also had an inside man – Marcin Gorecki, 40, who worked at British Car Auctions
Mark Preece (left) and David Burvill (right) laundered £78,000 from the sale of the stolen cars
One device used in keyless car thefts is sold by SOS Auto Keys – a tech firm in Bulgaria. It is built from devices that are strikingly similar to old Nintendo Game Boys (pictured) – the handheld consoles popular with millions of children in the 1990s
Brown and Clarke orchestrated a gang which cloned vehicles and produced forged documents that were so convincing they were able to sell them to dealers as well as private buyers.
They have been jailed alongside David Burvill, 36, Mark Preece, 30, and inside man Marcin Gorecki, 40.
This tactic which uses devices costing around £20,000 first emerged in South Korea before making its way to the US and now the UK, where it has cropped up in a worrying number of thefts.
The top end vehicles were stolen from Barnet, Enfield, Haringey, Redbridge, Waltham Forest, Barking and Chigwell.
Victims that bought the stolen cars will not recover a penny of their money.
Burvill and Preece laundered £78,000 from the sale of the stolen cars while Gorecki, who worked at British Car Auctions, helped move the stolen cars and sold a Jaguar which had been exchanged for a stolen vehicle with cloned plates to a car dealership in Essex in 2019.
The investigation into the gang began in January 2022 when officers discovered that a series of car thefts in north London were linked.
Detective Constable Dave Van Der Valk, from the Met’s Specialist Crime North team who led the investigation, said: ‘There were two layers of victims in this case – those who had their cars stolen and those who bought the stolen cars.
‘Those who bought the stolen cars without realising were truly the most affected as they did not receive any compensation from insurance companies which meant there were 170 victims affected by the heartless behaviour of the group.
‘This verdict, and lengthy two-year investigation that led to it, demonstrate that we’ll leave no stone unturned in our pursuit to catch criminals who look to enjoy the proceeds of illicit funds – no matter how complex the case.’
Brown was sentenced to five-and-a-half years for conspiracy to steal a motor vehicle and conspiracy to possess/ acquire criminal property between October 2018 and December 2022.
Clarke was sentenced to four years and three months for the same charges.
Gorecki was given a two year suspended sentence for conspiracy to possess or acquire criminal property for the same time period.
Preece, was given a nine month sentence suspended for 12 months for the same charge, while Burvill was given an 11 month sentence suspended for 15 months.
It comes after a gang of thieves used a Game Boy-style device to steal a £47,000 Hyundai Ioniq 5 in less than a minute.
Car owner Adam Metselaar has been left enraged after his vehicle was nabbed by thugs – despite having both sets of keys safely tucked away in his home.
However, a lack of keys did not deter the thieves, who were able to use the hi-tech ’emulator’ tucked away in the device that looks similar to the famed Nintendo games console.
After the harrowing CCTV footage emerged of the three thugs stealing the motor using the Game Boy style device in the early hours of the morning.
Furious Mr Metselaar is considering suing the car manufacturer over the debacle.
Mr Metselaar had installed an Apple Airtag in the car and later found it in the nearby area of Harrow.
Unfortunately for the car owner, his Hyundai was left with a staggering £10,000 worth of damage.
Noting the rise of the use of the Game Boy style devices, Mr Metselaar added: ‘Now the same thing is happening here.’
In 2021, a Leeds-based gang used a £20,000 gadget that also looked like a Nintendo Gameboy to steal a series of cars – but were caught after they filmed one of the thefts.
A gang of car thieves used a £20,000 gadget (pictured) that looks like a Nintendo Gameboy to steal a series of cars in Leeds – but were caught after they filmed one of the thefts
Dylan Armer, Thomas Poulson and Christopher Bowes used a high-tech device that looked like the popular 90s handheld gaming console to fool keyless cars into opening.
The Leeds-based gang targeted five Mitsubishi Outlanders using the £20,000 gadget without having to burgle the homes of the car owners for the keys.
CCTV footage released by West Yorkshire Police shows two hooded men unplug an electric car and within seconds drive away using the device.
Police recovered the gizmo from the suspects’ vehicle and video footage of how it was used in Poulson’s phone.
Armer, Poulson and Bowes were arrested on July 20 after stealing one Mitsubishi from a driveway.
Police were called into reports of car theft and a description of their vehicle was given.
A detailed investigation of the CCTV and mobile phone data by the Leeds District Crime Team linked the three men to the crime.
The Leeds-based gang targeted five Mitsubishi Outlanders using the £20,000 gadget without having to burgle the homes of the car owners for the keys. CCTV footage released by West Yorkshire Police shows two hooded men unplug an electric car and within seconds drive away using the device
Armer and Poulson pleaded guilty to the whole conspiracy while Bowes pleaded guilty to only being the driver for the two of the offences.
All three men were sentenced at Leeds Crown Court.
Armer was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison, with a concurrent 18-month term for separate burglary matters.
Poulson and Bowes were each given 22-month sentences, suspended for two years.
Det Insp Vicky Vessey, of the Leeds District Crime Team, said: ‘The utter disregard they had for the victims, whose hard-earned vehicles were whisked away in seconds, is totally apparent from the flippant tone heard on the video footage we recovered from one of their phones.’
‘They were brought to justice as a result of a thorough investigation that built up a clear evidential trail linking them to the offences.’
