Pair jailed for selling stolen cars on auction website Ebay

Two Caerphilly men have been jailed for selling £100,000 worth of stolen cars to unsuspecting motorists.

Ryan Parry, 31, and Matthew Price, 36, used fake number plates to shift the vehicles through online auction website Ebay.

Parry, of Mountain View, Caerphilly, was jailed for 12 months after admitting five charges of handling stolen goods.

Price admitted three charges of handling stolen goods and was jailed for eight months.

A sentencing hearing at Cardiff Crown Court was told how the pair sold a variety of cars between 2018 and 2020.

These included a £32,000 Mercedes CLA stolen from the driveway of a burgled home in Tremorfa, Cardiff. The pair later sold it on eBay to a woman on Merseyside for £10,000.

However, the buyer later spotted a similar car with the same numberplate on the same website and alerted police.

Another car, a white £33,000 Volkswagen Tiguan, was stolen from Newport in September 2018 and was seen parked on the Pant Glas Industrial Estate in Trethomas in December of that year. It caught the eye of a driver because it had the same numberplate as their own car.

After police examined the car, Parry’s DNA was found on the steering wheel and a receipt from his girlfriend’s dog grooming business was also discovered.

Other stolen cars sold on by the pair included a £35,000 Jaguar XE, a £12,000 Ford Kuga and £15,000 Audi S3 – which was stolen during a professional burglary from Manheim Auctions in Bristol.

Parry and Price were arrested during early morning raids at their homes in February this year.

Sentencing the pair Judge Michael Fitton QC said that while Parry was the lead offender, the two were the authors of their own misfortune.

Following the hearing, PC Rhys Jones, who led the operation to arrest the pair, said: “Price and Parry were arrested following an intelligence-led operation in February. Warrants were executed in the Caerphilly area following months of investigation by our team. Our activity targets organised crime, and Price and Parry have paid the price for their criminality today.

“I hope these sentences serve as a reminder to those partaking in such criminality that, with support from local communities, action will be taken against them and there will be consequences.”