Cars worth £200k found dumped
Nine sports cars worth more than £200,000, including a Porsche and a Lamborghini, plus a fleet of 24 hire vehicles were stolen during a gang operation in the Black Country, a court has heard.
Many cars stolen from top-end dealership Xtreme UK Ltd in Lye, Stourbridge, were later found dumped across the region. One member of the gang, Ryan Bunce, has pleaded guilty to his part in the theft at Xtreme UK over a weekend in March as well as an earlier gang raid.
In that raid a haul of 24 hire cars and computer equipment worth nearly £500,000 was taken from Thrifty Car Rental in Pedmore Road, Brierley Hill, in January.
Bunce, aged 25, of Rydding Square, Hill Top, West Bromwich, also admitted a third charge of burglary from a home in Wyld Close, Hill Top, where he took £2,000 of electronics and car keys to the Vauxhall Sigma parked outside, before driving away in the £12,000 vehicle on August 9.
Bunce was in police custody on unrelated charges when he admitted his part in these three offences, West Bromwich Magistrates Court was told.
Miss Sarah Jackson, prosecuting, said Bunce had carried out the car showroom raids as part of a planned operation along with numerous others.
She said Bunce told police five other men were involved in the raid at Xtreme, on the Old Forge Estate industrial park in Dudley Road, in March.
The defendant had admitted to driving away the £80,000 Lamborghini, £42,000 Porsche, one of the Mitsubishi Evolutions and the special edition Mitsubishi Euro 6.
Seven of the nine high-performance cars stolen were recovered within 72 hours. The court heard Bunce helped steal electronic equipment during the raid at Thrifty Car and Van Rental on January 5.
Magistrates committed Bunce to be sentenced at Wolverhampton Crown Court, where he is due to appear on Monday. No one from Xtreme UK or Thrifty Car Rental would comment on the court case today.
