A police investigation under the name Operation Digford, led by officers from Leeds District Intelligence Unit, uncovered three of the shops in Leeds and Dewsbury - where vehicles were being dismantled and parts prepared to be sold off. The group worked by stealing the keyless vehicles by scanning the signal from the owners' key fobs and using an on-board diagnostics tool to start the vehicles.
Sam Oliver, 34, of Fifth Avenue in Rothwell, was jailed for six years and three months for two counts of conspiracy to steal motor vehicles. Adrian Stewart, 35, of Meynell Approach, Leeds, was jailed for two years and four months for conspiracy to steal motor vehicles and handling stolen goods while Jason Tester, 51, of Cottingley Road, Leeds, was jailed for 18 months for conspiracy to steal motor vehicles.
Julie Hainsworth, 48, of Stratford Avenue in Beeston was handed a sentence of nine months suspended for two years for conspiracy to steal motor vehicles and James Hemingway, 50, of Wood Drive in Rothwell was jailed for two months for perverting the course of justice. “In one incident, significant violence was used when the victim has made attempts to stop their vehicle being stolen, showing the willingness and lengths this group would go to carry out these thefts. His life has been devastated socially, financially, and physically by the actions of this OCG.