Five members of a gang which targeted top-of-the range cars in a spate of burglaries across West Yorkshire have had confiscation orders made against them under the Procceds of Crime Act.
But three of the men will only have to pay back nominal amounts of £10 at this stage after inquiries revealed they had no assets at present.
Vehicles valued at around £400,000 – including a £70,000 Mercedes-Benz, £70,000 Audi R8 and a £30,000 Audi TT – were stolen during overnight raids on homes in Wakefield, Castleford, Halifax, Bradford, and York between July and November 2010.
After the five men were jailed last summer senior investigating officer Detective Inspector Alan Flynn said: “This was a detailed and comprehensive investigation, incorporating a whole range of evidence-gathering techniques, predominantly around telecommunication. The seizure of mobile phones provided an insight into their movements and their associates.
“It became clear that together these men had a hand in an organised operation to burgle homes with the sole purpose of stealing the occupants’ vehicles. These would then be cloned and sold on to unsuspecting members of the public.”
Samuel Pearson, 31, of Sticker Lane, Laisterdyke; Sohail Bham, 35, of Beldon Road, Great Horton; Daniel Burns, 35, of Ley Top Lane, Allerton; and Andrew De Angelis, 24, of St Enoch’s Road, Wibsey, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to burgle. Saqib Salam, 24, of Lilycroft Road, Manningham, and a sixth man admitted conspiracy to handle stolen vehicles.
Burns and De Angelis were jailed for five years while Bham was sentenced to four-and-a-half years and Pearson was locked up for four years and nine months. Salam was jailed for 18 months.
Yesterday, Judge Jonathan Durham Hall QC, sitting at Bradford Crown Court, was told that each of the five men had agreed benefit figures in relation to their criminal conduct.
Although the benefit figures for De Angelis, Pearson and Salam were said to range between £162,650 and £219,080 each of them was ordered to pay nominal confiscation orders of just £10.
Bham, whose benefit figure was set at £158,250, will have to repay £21,500, while Burns, who had a benefit figure of £69,420, must pay £380 found on him.