‘Woeful criminals’ sentenced over £170,000 Range Rover theft

Two men who stole a £170,000 luxury car have been sentenced after they were caught on CCTV filling up the vehicle.

Rhys Abbott, 20, and Roman Stevenson, 19, broke into a house in High View Avenue, Keyworth, before stealing the keys to a Range Rover Evoque Sport parked outside, Nottinghamshire Police said.

The force said the pair – who were caught after stopping off at locations where CCTV cameras were in operation – were “pretty woeful criminals”.

Abbott, of London Road in Leicester, and Stevenson, of Acacia Crescent in Bedworth, Warwickshire, were both sentenced to 18 months in a young offender institution at Nottingham Crown Court on Tuesday after pleading guilty to theft and burglary.

Police said it was called after the car’s owner woke to find the vehicle missing.

Officers said they liaised with a tracking company and found the vehicle had stopped at a petrol station in Loughborough a short time after it was stolen at about 05:30 GMT on 17 March.

CCTV footage showed Abbott filling the car with petrol before entering the kiosk and paying £40 in cash, the force added.

Police said at 10:00, the stolen car arrived at Heart of England Conference and Events Centre near Coventry, where CCTV captured Abbott and Stevenson stopping for food at its on-site restaurant.

The two burglars were identified using facial recognition technology on the Police National Database.

They were then arrested and taken into custody for questioning, the force said.

Police said Abbott denied being involved in the burglary and claimed he was picked up by Range Rover after agreeing to a “paid job” in order to clear a drug debt.

However, his story was discredited when detectives found CCTV that showed two people walking towards the house shortly before it was burgled.

Det Sgt James Hirst said: “This matter understandably caused a great deal of distress and anxiety to the victim, who was asleep upstairs when the burglary took place.

“We worked very hard to identify the offenders and it is testament to the quality of the investigation and the compelling evidence that was secured that both Abbott and Stevenson entered guilty pleas.”