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Two men have this week been sentenced to jail for handling stolen motorcycle parts and selling them on eBay.
The men have received a total of five years and four months in prison. Paul James, aged 33, and Seamus McGlynn, aged 26, appeared at Southwark Crown Court charged with handling stolen motorcycles and parts. They both pleaded guilty.
Following a proactive intelligence led investigation by the MPS Stolen Vehicle Unit they were arrested at an Essex industrial estate in Spetember 2008. They were caught ‘ringing’ a Suzuki GSX1300 motorbike to try and disguise the fact that the vehicle was stolen.
Ringing equipment such as grinding tools and stamps were found at the unit that they were renting, along with £265,000 worth of stolen motorbikes and parts.
Further financial enquiries ensued into the two suspects and they revealed that they had been operating four eBay accounts since 2007. After working closely with eBay, police officers were able to determine that they were selling on the stolen parts as genuine items.
47 motorcycles were identified as being handled by the two and countless victims that thought they were buying safe and genuine motorcycle parts. The pair were even changing the identities of some of the motorbike engines to sell them on as parts of racing bikes. They succeeded in not only fooling motorbike racing enthusiasts but the general public as well.
Detective Sergeant Malcolm Ellis, of the Economic and Specialist Crime Command, said; “McGlynn and James were persistent in their criminal activity.
“They continued to trade in stolen motorcycles and parts whilst on police bail. Not only did they con innocent victims out of thousands of pounds, they were also selling vehicles that were highly unsafe and could have resulted in the death of a buyer.
“We will now be looking to confiscate the monetary value of their criminal assets.”
