Jailed: Pair who dragged salesman down Stourbridge street during car theft

Reuben Hylton, 24, and Meryl Dacosta's crime spree started in December when Hylton approached a worker at a Kings Heath used car dealership, on Samuel Booth Works, about buying a Renault Megane parked up outside.

Once he had the keys to inspect the vehicle, Hylton then started up the £2,600-valued car and drove off without paying.

The Megane was found dumped a day later.

On December 12, just four days after his initial crime, Hylton struck again at a garage on Lower High Street, Cradley Heath. The thief again drove off after asking for keys to take a look at a Nissan Qashqai parked on the forecourt.

The pattern continued over the following two months when Hylton, of no fixed address, used the same tactic to steal cars from a Hyundai garage in Sheldon, used car dealerships on Gossey lane, Kitts Green, Dudley Road, Lye and St Johns Road in Stourbridge.

Dacosta, of Boscombe Road, Tyseley, also committed a theft at a garage on Northgate, Aldridge on January 30. Wearing a burka to disguise her appearance, the 27-year-old took a Vauxhall Astra for a test drive and when the salesman became suspicious he pulled on the handbrake and stopped the vehicle.

The dealer was punched to the face before the she drove off, leaving him at the side of the road.

Police caught up with the pair after the Ford Focus used as a getaway car during their final theft attempt, at Old Mill Garage, Stourbridge, on February 5 was spotted on the M5 travelling north from junction 4.

Motorway police brought the car to a stop at Frankley Services just an hour after Dacosta had tried to steal a second Ford from the Stourbridge garage, dragging a salesman along the forecourt as he tried to stop the crime.

The 60-year-old was not seriously hurt and was able to raise the alarm as the she sped off in a car with Hylton who had been waiting nearby.

The car they were travelling in was found to have been stolen from a garage in Alvechurch some days before.

Hylton was later charged with 19 offences: six counts of stealing motor vehicles from forecourts across the West Midlands; eight counts of driving while disqualified; two counts of making off without paying for petrol; one count of assault and another charge of breaching an anti-social behaviour order. DaCosta was also charged in connection with the Stourbridge Motor Company theft and Aldridge robbery.

The pair pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing and were sentenced on April 17, where Hylton received a 40 month custodial sentence and a 44 month driving ban, while Dacosta was jailed for 18 months.

They were sentenced on Friday.

PC Paul Brogan, from Force CID, investigated the crimes. He said: "This pair repeatedly stole from small businesses, with no regard for the people who may have got in their way.

"Thankfully no one was seriously hurt as a result of their actions but on three occasions they ended up injuring sales staff who attempted to prevent the thefts, either dragging them along as they tried to get away or physically assaulting them.

"The sentences reflect the serious nature of the crimes and means that they cannot continue to offend in such a manner across the West Midlands region."