Thief stole £100k worth of second hand cars by swapping keys

Wajid Riaz targeted high value second hand motors being sold by dealers or advertised in Auto Trader, Wolverhampton Crown Court heard.

The 30-year-old, who had a previous conviction for stealing vehicles, struck first after meeting a man who was selling an almost new BMW M4 worth £50,000.

The defendant asked to take it for a test drive and roared off leaving the owner standing in Overend Road, Cradley Heath after managing to get into the driver's seat with the ignition key, said Mr Michael Conry. But he did not get far and abandoned the badly damaged vehicle after crashing just minutes after taking it on June 16.

That did not stop him being involved in the theft of a £39,000 Audi A7 from a motor dealership in Hopwood near Birmingham three months later.

While viewing the vehicle Riaz switched the ignition key for a similar one he had brought with him and two other men returned to steal it two days later on September 21. It had already been stripped for parts when found 24 hours later.

Next he met a motor dealer from Cheltenham on September 23 to discuss the purchase of a £9,000 BMW 3 Series during which he performed a carbon copy key change before coming back to take the car later in the day.

The ploy backfired a week later when somebody tried to use the key fob he had exchanged for the real one — and realised what had happened — before he had time to steal the £31,000 Audi A7 from Coventry.

Undaunted Riaz used the same ruse on October 27 to take an Audi A6 from a woman in Leicestershire who had advertised the vehicle for sale in Auto Trader.

But it was traced through a tracker device on the vehicle which was displaying false registration plates when police found Riaz at the wheel and arrested him 12 hours after the theft.

Mr Jasvir Mann, defending, said: "He was a self employed courier and had borrowed £4,000 to buy a van for use in the delivery of parcels. Those who loaned the money put pressure on him. He managed to pay £2,500 but was told he either produced the balance immediately or stole cars for them to pay off the debt."

Riaz, from Phillip Sidney Road, Sparkhill pleaded guilty to four thefts of cars and one attempted theft and was sent to prison by Recorder Simon Ward who told him: "These cars were clearly destined for others to either strip for parts or completely dispose of. You knew exactly what you were facing because you have served a long sentence for a similar crime in the past."