Prolific car thieves who stole more than 20 vehicles worth nearly £500,000 are jailed
A Wolverhampton man is one of three people to be jailed after involvement in more than 20 car thefts worth nearly £500,000 across the West Midlands.
Martin Islip was sentenced alongside Lawson O'Neill and Anthony Stewart last Friday after being found guilty of conspiracy to steal 22 cars throughout 2019.
The combined worth of the cars they had targeted was more than £450,000.
Islip and O'Neill targeted predominantly Fords, carrying out keyless thefts at addresses in Staffordshire, Warwickshire and the West Midlands by electronically programming blank keys to take control of the vehicles.
This allowed them to get into the cars and drive them away without causing a disturbance or having to break into the owners' homes.
Islip and O'Neill were arrested in June 2019 while driving a car containing a number of Ford keys, tools, gloves and items of clothing.
Stewart's role was to collect and transport some of the stolen vehicles to Scotland, where he was arrested while driving one of the stolen cars.
Police then linked the three to the locations of a number of car thefts in Chelmsley Wood, Shard End, Yardley, Solihull, Castle Bromwich and Kitts Green.
The trial of the three was delayed because of the Covid pandemic, but finally went ahead in March this year.
Islip, 34, of Wheatstone Road in Wolverhampton, was given five-and-a-half years in prison.
O'Neill, 32, of Over Green Drive in Birmingham, was given three years in prison.
Stewart, 39, of Cedar Road, Glasgow, was handed an 18-month consecutive jail term in addition to an earlier sentence.
A spokesperson for West Midlands police said: "We do not underestimate the impact this crime has on people’s lives and are working hard to bring these offenders to justice.
"We know the huge inconvenience of vehicle crime on your livelihoods, and personal lives, which is why we're determined to take this action.
"With the support of the public we can continue to tackle car crime and shut down chop shops which act as a market for car thieves.
"We have launched a major new operation to target serious and organised crime across the West Midlands.
"Operation Target sees West Midlands Police take a stand against a range of serious and organised crime offences ranging from drug dealing and burglary to cyber crime and fraud.
"Officers will be using local intelligence, seizing goods, carrying out warrants and targeting offenders as part of Op Target.
"Keep following our website and social media pages with the hashtag #OpTarget to see more of what we’ll be doing."
