Four men charged with aggravated vehicle taking after police dog Pancho sniffs out suspects
Four men from the Black Country have been charged with aggravated vehicle taking and burglary after one of West Midlands Police's newest police dogs Pancho was called into action.
Pancho sniffed out two car theft suspects in a large scrap metal compound in the early hours of Wednesday, November 11, when the pursuit of a suspected stolen car ended near the yard in Wolverhampton.
Morgan McTaggart, Callum Hopson, Ashley Greatrex and Jamie Hopson have now been charged.
It is alleged the quartet stole a Ford Fiesta on the afternoon of November 7 from Murdoch Drive, in Kingswinford, in what’s believed to be a keyless theft.
They are also accused of raiding a newsagents in Walsall Road in the early hours of November 11, when tobacco and alcohol valued at £2,000 was taken.
McTaggart, 20, from Stow Heath Lane, in Wolverhampton; Callum Hopson, 20, of Vaughan Road, in Willenhall; Greatrex, 18, of Lunt Road, in Bilston; and Jamie Hopson, 26, from Wolverhampton but of no fixed address; have all been charged with aggravated vehicle taking and burglary.
It is alleged Morgan was driving the vehicle during the pursuit and he has also been charged with dangerous driving. The other three have been charged with being carried in a vehicle while it is being dangerously driven.
They all appeared in Dudley Magistrates Court on Thursday, where they were remanded into prison ahead of their next court appearance on December 10.
