Gang jailed after stealing luxury cars worth over £500,000

Three men who stole 22 high-end vehicles – including several from St Neots and Little Paxton – have been jailed.

The men targeted keyless cars in Cambridgeshire and Lincolnshire between April and September last year, stealing vehicles worth more than half a million pounds.

The gang used sophisticated equipment to bypass security systems and drive away the cars, which were mostly high-value Range Rovers manufactured before 2019. The thefts took place in the early hours, with cars taken from driveways in Peterborough, St Neots, Little Paxton, Alconbury Weald, Folksworth, Glinton, Ailsworth, Helpston and Skegness.

In total, 16 Range Rovers, two Land Rover Discoverys, a Jaguar F-Pace, a BMW 118 and a Jaguar XF were stolen. The gang also attempted to take a Mercedes E Class.

When police recovered 15 of the vehicles in Peterborough and Lincolnshire, they had been fitted with cloned number plates. Forensic work linked the men to the crimes – including Milius’s fingerprints and DNA found on a water bottle inside a Range Rover stolen from Little Paxton on 4 May, and Girdeika’s fingerprint on a cloned number plate fitted to a Range Rover stolen from Alconbury Weald.

All three men admitted conspiring to steal motor vehicles and were sentenced at Huntingdon Law Courts yesterday (13 August).

• Osvaldas Milius, of Overland Mews, Peterborough, was jailed for 53 months. He also admitted knowingly entering the UK in breach of a deportation order.
• Mindaugas Savickas, of Lincoln Road, Millfield, Peterborough, was jailed for 33 months.
• Kornelijus Girdeika, of Arkwright Way, Paston, Peterborough, was jailed for 32 months.

PC Craig Trevor, from Cambridgeshire Police, said:

“This gang conducted a sophisticated operation as they stole high performance vehicles with little thought for the impact their actions were having on others.”

Jaguar Land Rover has since introduced security updates to help protect vehicles from the tactics used in this case, and police are urging all keyless car owners to take extra precautions – including steering wheel locks, pedal boxes, immobilisers and trackers.