Ringleader of young car thieves gang jailed after Black Country crime spree
The ringleader of a gang of young car thieves who stole cars throughout the Black Country has been locked up.
Corey Brown, 19, of Albert Street, Lye, was sentenced at Wolverhampton Crown Court with Cameron Callaghan, 22, of Reservoir Road, Rowley Regis, and a teenager who cannot be named due to his age.
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After graduating from stealing cars the gangs moved on to car jacking and stealing electric scooters from scared owners.
At Baggeridge Social Club, Lower Gornal, on November 4, 2023, they used a knife to threaten a Range Rover driver to hand over the car keys. They stole two Lexus cars and a Toyota Prius whose owner relied on for his small business to operate.
Corey Brown, who has six convictions for 20 offences including burglary and driving offences, committed his crimes last year whilst on bail and on a suspended sentence for thefts the previous year.
Recorder Imran Shafi KC sentenced Brown to 14 months in jail.
He said: "It was a group effort and you were the leader. You scared the victim when you used a knife."
He added: "The aggravating factors are your previous convictions, you were on police bail, you were subject to a suspended sentence order and you were driving whilst disqualified.
"The only mitigating factor is your youth as you were 18-years-old when these offences occurred.
"The sheer number of these offences, seven vehicles stolen but each sentence will be concurrent."
Brown has been on remand since last year and will have already served the majority of his sentence already.
Callaghan was sentenced to 22 months, suspended for two years, for three offences.
He will have to undertake 150 hours of unpaid work.
The teenager was given a 12 month community order for his minor crimes with the gang.
Recorder Shafi said: "There is time for all three of you to be rehabilitated with these sentences. You are still young."