Car thief who used immobiliser jailed

Feb 26 2008 By Paul Beard

A SOLIHULL man who tried to use a car immobiliser kit to help him steal vehicles has been jailed for two years.

Gary Law, 32, of Chaffinch Road, Smith's Wood, was one of three men involved in the enterprise.

He used a machine which altered vehicle immobiliser codes, meaning cars could be worked with keys which were not the originals.

Law admitted theft, attempted theft and two charges of handling stolen property at Warwick Crown Court.

With him in the dock were Simon Twist and car parts dealer Paul Pritchard, who had both admitted handling stolen air bags and controls.

Twist, 34, of Camford Close, Kings Heath, was jailed for 18 months. Pritchard, 43, of Camford Grove, Kings Heath, who had no previous convictions, was ordered to perform 240 hours of unpaid work and pay £1,616 costs.

The court heard Law was arrested just after midnight in January 2005 as he stood next to an MG car in Coventry wearing gloves and holding the immobiliser machine, which had itself been stolen.

A police dog followed his scent to another MG with its doors open and which the owner's key would not lock.

At Law's home was found a computer on which searches had been carried out for the registration numbers of the cars.

Jailing him, Judge Christopher Hodson said: "The theft of the immobiliser over-rider is, in my judgement, a significant and serious offence."

Daniel White, prosecuting, said Pritchard owned a company called Rover Parts at Tividale, Oldbury, where he had many thousands of vehicle parts, while Law ran Just MGs on the Rovex business park in Tyseley.

Twist knew both of them, having worked for Pritchard as an auto electrician on and off for many years and had a conviction with Law for robbery.