This is the moment a gang of luxury car thieves crashed a keyless vehicle after ‘hacking’ into it using a device favoured by motor crooks.
CCTV footage shows the thugs unlock a Bentley Bentayga, which is parked in a gated driveway, using a ‘master device’ to copy the signals of the vehicle’s keys and transmit them to a second device to open the car.
After successfully gaining access to the vehicle, worth £169,000, one of the criminals then reverses the motor through two sets of fences in order to escape off the property.
Cars with keyless entry are increasingly becoming a target for thieves, as they are not needed to be in the vicinity of the vehicle in order to steal it, nor do they need to imitate the owner’s key in order to gain access.
The four members of this gang have now been jailed for stealing over 50 high-end motors, worth nearly £4million, using this method.
Their string of sophisticated thefts took place across the southeast of England and included expensive brands such as Range Rovers, Rolls Royces and Bentleys.
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The footage shows the thugs target a Bentley Bentayga parked in a gated driveway
One of the criminals is seen using a ‘master device’ to copy the signals of the vehicle’s keys and transmit them to a second device that unlocked the car
Perry Lovejoy, 29, Luke Jackson, 28, Billy Harrison, 30, and Harry Sales, 28, all admitted charges of conspiracy to steal and conspiracy to acquire criminal property and were sentenced collectively to 12-and-a-half years behind bars
Perry Lovejoy, 29, Luke Jackson, 28, Billy Harrison, 30, and Harry Sales, 28, all admitted charges of conspiracy to steal and conspiracy to acquire criminal property.
They were sentenced collectively to 12-and-a-half years behind bars.
Jackson had additional offences taken into account after admitting to stealing a further 42 cars with a combined value of £2.1million.
Their convictions were secured as a result of a complex investigation by Surrey Police’s Serious and Organised Crime Unit.
The gang’s thefts took place over the course of a year across multiple counties in the southeast of England.
They were finally arrested at the end of April last year after officers successfully built a clear picture of their activities through intelligence, forensics, numberplate recognition, call data, witness testimony and CCTV footage.
During their investigation, officers discovered that the gang used the ‘relay attack’ technique to target keyless luxury vehicles including Rolls Royces, Bentleys, Land Rovers, Range Rovers and Alfa Romeos.
As new vehicles have moved away from traditional keys in favor of electronic fobs or ‘smart keys’, crooks are now believed to be using this method to breach the systems built into the cars’ communication network.
These car thieves are known to use a keyless ‘relay’ device to fool cars into thinking that their real keys are nearby – a feature of high-end cars that allow doors to be unlocked and cars to be started without using the key.
This method requires a kit that can allegedly be bought from the dark web for £15,000.
Criminals usually go in pairs to steal keyless cars. One holds a transmitter and stands next to the vehicle while the other stands close to the house holding an amplifier
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Investigating Officer Detective Constable Matt Earl said the thefts, enacted out of ‘pure greed’, had had a ‘huge’ financial impact.
He said: ‘This was a large-scale investigation that was made possible by the hard work and dedication of the Serious and Organised Crime Unit, as well as the support and collaboration of other neighbouring police forces.
‘The level of criminality that these four people undertook was significant and had a huge financial impact. These men acted out of pure greed and had no regard for how their crimes may affect the lives of their victims.
‘We are glad that these criminals have been successfully brought to justice and will now have lots of time to think about their actions whilst sitting in prison.’
Jackson, from Croydon in southeast London, was jailed for three-and-a-half years after also admitting two offences of burglary committed whilst stealing four of the cars and being handed 18 months in prison to be served concurrently, as well as having his thefts of the additional 42 cars taken into consideration.
Perry Lovejoy, of Horley in Surrey, was sentenced to three years in prison and handed a nine-month consecutive sentence for admitting being concerned in the supply of cannabis, after officers found incriminating messages on his phone.
Harrison, of Coulsdon in South London, and Sales, also of Croydon, were locked up for three years each.