Key-raid gang speed off with £1m of cars

They trawled the area for seven months organising raids at homes to get ignition keys for high-value cars parked on drives and in garages in the middle of the night, Wolverhampton Crown Court heard yesterday.

Prosecutor Stephen Thomas said: "The days of hot wiring are long gone. Nowadays you need the keys to steal cars, especially those of high value.

"Some of those that were taken did not match the high specification required and were used to carry out further burglaries.

"They were driven to the next burglary and dumped after being upgraded to a BMW, Audi or Subaru Impreza and some of those were shipped out to the Far East or somewhere like that. There is a market for high specification cars in those areas."

The conspiracy started around May 2010 and ran to the end of that year involving about 48 houses that were either burgled or were the subject of an attempted burglary.

"Geographically the area was mainly confined to houses in Wolverhampton and Staffordshire but, if all the cars had been taken, the value would have been in excess of £1 million."

Several members of the gang, who wore balaclavas, had already either admitted or been found guilty of involvement in the car key burglary plot, the jury was told.

The prosecutor described the "hierarchy" of the gang and said that the two "controlling minds" – Darren Percival and Martin Steadman – had both been found guilty after an earlier trial.

He said: "They would reconnoitre the properties, decide which would be targeted and call in another group of their associates to carry out the burglaries."

Mr Thomas said Dwayne Webley, 26, was involved in burglaries at Meadowbank Gardens in Codsall and Glendale Close, Finchfield.

Webley, of Millington Road, Low Hill, denies conspiracy to steal and conspiracy to burgle between May 1, 2010 and December, 13, 2010.

His trial continues.