Career criminals sent to prison for selling stolen cars
CAREER criminals received £100,000 worth of stolen cars which they then sold on in a professional operation.
Ryan Parry, 31,and Matthew Price, 36, were part of a Caerphilly-based operation which saw them receive cars stolen in burglaries in South Wales and the Bristol area.
After receiving the vehicles, the pair would use false plates to avoid detection and would sell the cars for a profit to unsuspecting customers who thought they were buying the vehicle legally.
The operation became known to the police after one customer realised a car with the same number plates as the vehicle she purchased was being advertised for sale.
A sentencing hearing at Cardiff Crown Court yesterday saw Parry, of Mountain View, Caerphilly, plead guilty to five counts of handling stolen goods while Price, of Central Street, Caerphilly, pleaded guilty to three counts of handling stolen goods.
Prosecutor Heath Edwards said the first vehicle received by the defendants was a Mercedes CLA worth £32,000 which was taken from outside a home in Meirion Place, Tremorfa, Cardiff, on August 11, 2018.
The vehicle was later traced to the Caerphilly area where it remained until November when it was driven to Merseyside by Price and Parry on December 1, 2018.
Alison Williams, from Merseyside, expressed interest in the car after seeing it advertised on eBay.
When the defendants delivered the car to her, she agreed a price of £10,000.
Price gave her the bank details of his girlfriend Sarah Hallet and asked for the funds to be paid into that account. He did not provide a logbook for the car and told Ms Williams the car had been bought damaged by them which was the reason for the low sale price.
In January 2019, Ms Williams saw a similar vehicle to the Mercedes on eBay and realised it had the same registration as the vehicle she had bought.
She contacted police who examined the car and established it was the same vehicle stolen from Cardiff.
The second vehicle was a white Volkswagen Tiguan taken from Newport on September 21, 2018. It was valued at around £33,000
This vehicle was discovered on
December 2, 2018, when a driver saw it parked in Trethomas, Caerphilly, and noticed it had the same number plates as his vehicle.
He called the police who investigated and linked the car to Parry after his DNA was found on the gearstick.
The third vehicle was a Jaguar XE taken from a property in Axbridge, Somerset, on November 30, 2018.
It was valued at around £35,000 and its owner had to cancel a holiday as a result of the theft.
The fourth vehicle was a Ford Kuga taken from Rushwind Close, Swansea, on December 8, 2018. It was valued at around £12,000.
The final vehicle was an Audi S3 stolen from Manheim Auctions in Bristol in a burglary where eight vehicles were stolen, and it was valued at around £15,000.
Both defendants were arrested at their respective homes on February 25, 2020, and while they denied having been in possession of the cars, they later pleaded guilty to the charges they faced.
Parry was sentenced to 12 months’ imprisonment and Price was sentenced to eight months’ imprisonment.