South London thieves stole keyless Range Rovers and Bentleys

The thieves targeted keyless vehicles using a 'master device' to copy the signals of the vehicles' keys and transmit them to a second device that unlocked the cars. 

Across the south east of England they stole Range Rovers, Rolls Royces and Bentleys. 

Luke Jackson, 28, of Shoreham Close in Croydon, Billy Harrison, 30, of Tollers Lane in Coulsdon, Perry Lovejoy, 29, from Horley, and Harry Sales, 28, of Cornwall Road in Croydon were all jailed for their roles in the thefts. 

All four admitted charges of conspiracy to steal and conspiracy to acquire criminal property and were sentenced collectively to 12-and-a-half years behind bars for stealing a total of 53 cars valuing over £3.7m. 

Jackson had additional offences taken into account after admitting to stealing a further 42 cars with a combined value of £2.1m. 

Top row, Jackson and Lovejoy. Bottom row, Harrison and Sales. (Image: Sussex Police)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. 

The method involves using a master device to copy the signal of a vehicle's key and transmitting it to a second smaller device, which replicates the key and unlocks the car. 

A thief targetting a Bentley Bentayga (Image: Sussex Police)

CCTV footage of one of the gang's thefts shows one of the men reversing a silver Bentley into two gates inside a large property and making off with the car after successfully accessing the vehicle. 

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 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 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 and Sales were locked up for three years each.