LANCASHIRE PLANT THEFT GANG SENTENCED

[ THREE PEOPLE, including a pair of brothers, have been jailed and four others given suspended sentences for their parts in the handling and sale of in excess of £1m worth of stolen plant.

A total of 46 machines were stolen – mainly from across the North West of England –between 2015 and 2018. They were then sold on to a gang who operated out of an industrial unit in Nelson, Lancashire, where the stolen goods were modified to hide their original identification numbers.

The gang in Nelson then sold the machines on to buyers across Europe, and in some cases as far away as Australia. They were valued between £8,000 and £105,000 each, with the total value thought to be approximately £1.3m.

Those who went on to purchase the machines believed they were buying from legitimate businesses and only became aware they had bought stolen goods when the equipment was seized as part of the police investigation.

Two buyers lost more than one machine each and in victim impact statements described how they suffered significant financial losses and anxiety about the loss of their professional reputations.

The members of the gang all appeared at Preston Crown Court on 7 March to be sentenced.

The court heard that one of the brothers, Max Wynn, was the ‘driving force’ behind the operation. He was the director of the company that bought and sold on the stolen machines and his name was on the lease of the industrial unit in Nelson where the work was carried out to get rid of identification numbers.

In total he is believed to be connected to the handling and sale of all 46 machines. The money from the sales was then laundered. Paperwork revealed that he charged all of his customers VAT but never submitted a return, instead pocketing the extra money himself.

He was sentenced to eight-and-a-half years in prison. The other members of the gang were sentenced to terms ranging from eight-and-ahalf years to 10 months suspended.

One of the men who bought several of the stolen machines, believing he was buying from a legitimate company, said: “I have been trading in the plant machinery business for over 20 years and my business has been built on trust and goodwill. Immediately on receiving the information from the police I have felt like my good name has been tarnished, and helpless to do anything about it.”

PC Neil Goodison of Lancashire Police said: “We linked the high-value thefts of plant machinery to Max Wynn, and our investigation then led us to the other six men and the industrial unit in Nelson.

“The group’s audacity was staggering, with stolen machinery sold on to unsuspecting buyers locally and as far away as Spain, Sweden and even Australia.

“We welcome these sentences and hope they serve as a warning that we take criminal activity like this very seriously.”

The case is the latest in a series of highvalue plant theft cases reported over the past year. The rise in theft of construction plant illustrates the challenges faced in keeping construction sites secure. q