A TRACKER device on a stolen Land Rover led police to a farm outbuilding where they found evidence of 15 other vehicles which had been broken up and sold for parts.
And at Warwick Crown Court mechanic Ian Turner, 49, of Jubilee Avenue, Redditch, pleaded guilty to converting criminal property in relation to stolen Land Rovers and cars worth more than £160,000.
Prosecutor Ian Speed said: “This case concerns the defendant taking possession of numerous stolen vehicles and breaking them up into sellable parts.
“The evidence shows at the premises he rented there is clear identification of parts from 15 Land Rovers, a Range Rover Evoque, and Audi RS4, a Ford Fiesta and a motorcycle.”
Notebooks and his phone showed Turner had been selling and fitting parts from the stolen vehicles, including at events like the Malvern Show.
His illegal business came to light because a Land Rover Discovery stolen from Moseley, Birmingham, in September last year was fitted with a tracker device.
That enabled the police to trace it to Claverdon Hall Farm, Claverdon, where they found Turner, who rented one of the outbuildings.
In the unit were what was left of a number of stolen vehicles, and when he was arrested Turner said simply: “It is what it is.”
He admitted buying vehicles, mainly Land Rovers, knowing they were stolen from members of the ‘travelling community.’
In a second interview he changed his story, saying he was working for them, rather than buying the vehicles, and had felt under pressure to break up ones they brought to him.
Jonathan Coode, defending said: “This is not a conventional car-ringing activity. What happened is the travelling people would steal a car and bring it to the workshop.
“There was a considerable amount of coercion, and the defendant was on one occasion assaulted. His wife advised him to give up and move away from the farm, but they kept coming.
“I concede he was a vital cog, no pun intended, but he was not the driving force.”
Turner was sentenced to two years in prison suspended for two years, with a rehabilitation activity for 15 days.
