Man made £100k from stolen car parts on ebay
A BURTON Green man who “profited significantly” and made over £100,000 by dismantling stolen BMWs and then selling the parts off on e-bay has been jailed for three years and nine months.
David Campbell pleaded guilty to three charges of handling stolen goods when he appeared at Warwick Crown Court. The 48-year-old of Red Lane, had similar previous convictions and was already subject to a 12 month suspended sentence.
Judge Alan Parker ruled that Campbell had profited £109,207 from his crimes, and had assets of £58,869 which he was ordered to pay within six months – or face a further 20 months in prison.
Prosecutor Simon Hunka said that Campbell’s earlier offences involved rented premises in Warwick, and Mobbs Wood Farm near Nuneaton, where BMWs were broken up and their parts stored before being sold through e-bay.
The offences came to light during a police investigation into an armed robbery in 2010 when a high-spec BMW was taken. When he was arrested Campbell had £4,700 in cash on him and car parts from 23 stolen BMWs with a combined value of £493,750 were recovered from the two premises. Mr Hunka said some of the vehicles had been taken in violent robberies including at knife point. Campbell said he had no knowledge of any robberies or burglaries, but accepted he had ‘not done enough checks’ on vehicles offered to him.
Campbell has 21 convictions for 58 offences, and was jailed for 30 months in 1997 for handling stolen BMW parts, three years in 2007 for similar offences, and in February last year was given a suspended sentence for being concerned in the retention or disposal of criminal property.
Richard Davenport, defending, said: “The defendant appears before you today a broken man. His future will be a lengthy custodial sentence and he has been struck off from acting as a company director.” Campbell’s partner Nicola Davies, 38 asked that his sentence not be so long that it deprived her chance of having a child by him.
Passing sentence, Judge Parker described Campbell as “a ready source for the disposal of the stolen cars” but said there was no way of concluding that he knew exactly where they had come from.
He said: “The offences all have the characteristic which is your unhappy criminal signature, which is handling stolen BMWs or parts from them.
“You profited very significantly indeed from a continuing course of criminal conduct. No sooner were you out of prison than you were back to your old trade. You were well known among the criminal fraternity as a route through which stolen BMWs could be sold.”
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Saturday 18 May 2013
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