Gang of burglars locked up for thefts of cars worth £500,000
A GANG of burglars who targeted luxury cars across Leeds have been brought to justice after bragging about their criminal exploits on social media.
Officers from Leeds District Crime Team painstakingly built up evidence as they investigated the theft of cars worth in excess of half a million pounds.
One of the four-strong group, Frankie Allwork, 21, from Seacroft, posed in front of a stolen £60,000 Audi A6 with a pair of mole grip pliers, which are used to break into homes to steal car keys.
The image was sent to a notorious West Midlands-based social media account called Mr Dingers – ‘dingers’ being slang for stolen cars – where offenders anonymously show off about their crimes.
Allwork’s face was obscured with an emoji, but officers found
the original image of him with the identifiable stolen vehicle when they seized one of his accomplice’s phones. A video also posted on the Mr Dingers account showing the suspects, driving along to music in the Audi, stolen from Shadwell on January 7, was also recovered on a mobile phone.
The Audi and a £30,000 Seat Leon FR, stolen in a burglary the same night in Oulton Lane, Woodlesford, were also photographed parked side by side in Gipton – at a spot where tracking devices from other stolen cars had previously been found discarded.
Phone evidence showed Allwork had exchanged messages via social media with accomplice Bryn Kerry talking openly about stolen vehicles and the tools used to commit burglaries.
Allwork, of Kentmere Avenue, Seacroft, was sent to a young offenders’ institution for four and a half years after pleading guilty to three offences of burglary and two of theft.
Kerry, 20, admitted theft of a vehicle and handling stolen goods. He was also convicted of attempted burglary and sentenced to 32 months.