Wheels of injustice
Lithuanian deported from Sweden FOUR times strolls into UK … and goes on £500k luxury car part theft spree
A LITHUANIAN thief who came to the UK after being deported four times from Sweden has been jailed for stealing £ 500,000 worth of luxury car parts in just three months.
Ernestas Lukosevicius was repeatedly booted out of the country where it was said he had developed the ‘skills and expertise’ to carry out such car crime.
By April last year he had racked up his eighth conviction for 23 offences, was jailed for nine months and had been handed his fourth deportation order.
A court heard he is banned from returning to Sweden until February 2027. But it was between January and March this year, having moved to the UK, that the 27- year- old was recruited for his techniques to help steal valuable car parts.
In that short time, he and another man targeted 70 highvalue BMW, Audi and Mercedes vehicles parked on driveways at homes across north Kent late at night.
In one botched theft in Swanley on March 3, a BMW caught alight, leaving the homeowners terrified.
Footprints in the snow were matched to trainers Lukosevicius was wearing when arrested in Larkfield, near Maidstone, nine days later.
Police were alerted to a garage break-in on March 12 and discovered the Lithuanian crouched by a BMW. Inside his jacket was a steering wheel stolen from another BMW in the same road. Maidstone Crown Court was told that was the only stolen car part ever recovered from the 70 vehicles.
Lukosevicius, of no fixed address, admitted conspiracy to steal. His accomplice remains on the run. Prosecutor Mary Jacobson told the court that as well as onboard computers and parts, the thieves stole belongings including satnavs, laptops, designer clothing, sunglasses and golf clubs.
The total value was £503,698 although it was claimed Lukosevicius never received any cash.
The court was told there was no record of when he came to the UK, and Recorder Matthew McDonagh said he could not make the same recommendation for deportation as ordered in Sweden. But on jailing Lukosevicius for four years on Friday, the judge told him his illicit skills had been ‘essential and integral’ to the conspiracy, adding: ‘It undoubtedly had substantial impact on the victims, and the targeting and stealing to order caused a high level of inconvenience and financial loss.’
Miss Jacobson told the court expanding foam and tape were used to muffle car alarms and cover up any flashing lights.
Lenses on CCTV cameras were also covered as the thieves tampered with locks or smashed windows. Once inside, the steering wheel and dashboard would be removed to steal the electronics.
Lukosevicius’s previous convictions in Sweden include aggravated theft, falsifying documents, receiving stolen goods, violent resistance and immigration offences. He has been handed deportation orders in 2011, 2012, 2015 and 2017.
Adrian Rohard, defending, said Lukosevicius came to the UK to visit a brother in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk.
Detective Constable Tony Hatcher of Kent Police said: ‘Lukosevicius committed a huge number of offences in just a few months. These crimes have left victims and their insurance companies with repair bills totalling more than £500,000.’
It is not the first time a foreign criminal has come to Britain and continued their reign of terror. In early 2010, Lithuanian Viktor Akulic was let into Britain despite being jailed for nine years in his homeland for raping a seven-yearold. While living in Sheerness in Kent in August the same year, he beat and raped a woman.
When Romanian killer Ciprian Stanescu, 41, came to Britain, he proceeded to rape a woman who had been stranded at Victoria Station in London in January 2015 and was jailed for eight years.
In May 2016 Damien Pankiewicz, 37, from Poland, was sentenced to 12 years for attacking a man he never met and throwing him in front of a London bus.
The victim was in hospital for three weeks. Pankiewicz, who was convicted of GBH, had carried out rapes and assaults in Poland.