Members of a car theft gang responsible for stealing nearly £1million worth of vehicles have been jailed after bragging about their crimes on social media.
Between 2022 and 2023 the five men targeted luxury SUVs, motorhomes, cars and motorbikes in and around Coventry in the West Midlands.
Their offences included car key burglaries and carjackings, with the defendants charged with a total of 47 separate offences.
Tyrone Henn, 23, Jason O’Farrell, 20, Deacon Cumberbatch, 19, and Kian O’Shea, 19, were convicted for their parts in the spate of thefts earlier this month.
Now, the fifth defendant, Keegan Judge, 18, can be named after a court order restricting his identification was lifted.
In total the five thieves stole vehicles worth over £800,000 but were caught after posting some of the purloined cars and motorbikes on their social media accounts.
Officers from Coventry Local Policing Area examined hours of mobile phone footage and hundreds of pages of messages the thieves sent to one another during the course of their offending as the team pieced together the identities of those involved.
The perpetrators also posted photographs and videos on social media – including shots of a number of stolen vehicles.
A shot posted by the Coventry car theft gang on social media showing them in possession of a stolen vehicle
Four of the members of the Coventry car theft gang were convicted for their crimes earlier this month: (l-r) Tyrone Henn, 23, Jason O’Farrell, 20, Kian O’Shea, 19, and Deacon Cumberbatch, 19
A fifth defendent Keegan Judge, 18, can now be named after a court order restricting his identification was lifted
Messages sent from Henn to the other members of the group were found in which the 22-year-old complained at the low share of the money generated following one of the thefts.
Henn complained that splitting £2,000 from a theft five ways only left him with £400 from the group’s ill-gotten gains.
Throughout their offending, the group even contacted the people whose cars they had taken offering to sell them back.
The five were all arrested following extensive enquiries in Coventry throughout 2023 and 2024, with O’Farrell, O’Shea and Judge pleading guilty on the second day of their trial.
Cumberbatch originally pleaded not guilty, but changed his plea at court to guilty.
Henn also pleaded not guilty, but was convicted on February 12 at Leamington Crown Court.
Henn was jailed for 10 years and six months, with a 12 year driving ban and O’Farrell was jailed for 10 years and five months, with a 14 year driving ban.
Cumberbatch received six years and nine months, with a 10 year driving ban and O’Shea was handed a three years and nine months jail sentence, with an eight year driving ban.
Four of the Coventry thieves pose with stolen motorcycles – shots such as these helped West Midlands Police to track their identities
A shot of the thieves’ possessions confiscated by police show numerous sets of car keys, scanning devices – and prohibited weapons such as knuckledusters
A close-up of the knuckledusters found by police when they raided the car theft gang
When police finally raided the gang they found them in possession of scanning devices used to check on a vehicle’s vital systems – which may have been used to illegally obtain access
The youngest of the men, Judge, was jailed for four years and five months, with a nine year driving ban.
Chief Superintendent Paul Drover, commander of Coventry Local Policing Area, said: ‘These five young men were among the most wanted offenders in Coventry and were responsible for a staggering amount of offences.
‘The thefts, burglaries and carjackings this group carried out had a devastating impact on the victims, not just financially, but mentally.
‘During the investigation we really saw how brazen they all were and their casual attitude towards their offending.
‘Officers from teams across the Coventry LPA, especially from our Investigations department, played a huge part in identifying and bringing in these five.
‘All the officers involved can be rightly proud of the work they have put in to secure this result.
‘Taking these five prolific offenders off the streets will send out a strong message about how seriously we take vehicle crime.’