Two men jailed after cars worth £250k stolen

Two men have been jailed after more than a dozen vehicles with an estimated value of nearly £250,000 were stolen across the Black Country.

Tobias Williams, of Valentine Road, and David Shaikh, of Faraday Avenue, stole 15 vehicles between 5 September and 10 December 2022.

The men were charged with conspiracy to commit burglary in a dwelling with intent to steal and conspiracy to steal a motor vehicle.

At Birmingham Crown Court on Monday, Williams, 20, was jailed for 4 years and two months, while Shaikh was sentenced to 5 years.

Each burglary consisted of the same technique - snapping the lock on the front or rear doors and stealing car keys from inside the property.

The pair's three month crime spree racked up vehicles such as Audi, BMW and Ford Focus.

One of the stolen cars was used in a further two burglaries and two attempted burglaries in Halesowen, and an attempted burglary in Dudley.

Det Con Lucy Locke, from West Midlands Police, praised the officers efforts in tracking down the perpetrators who had been responsible for a string of other burglaries in the Black Country.

"We were able to link Shaikh and Williams to 17 offences of burglary and attempted burglary.

"This was a complex investigation which involved a lot of elements, such as reviewing CCTV footage, ANPR data, forensic examinations and mobile phone work.

"Fortunately, we did manage to recover some of the vehicles stolen and were able to reunite them with their rightful owners."

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