Serial car thief jailed in Birmingham after being nailed by selfie in stolen Range Rover

A serial thief involved in a multi-million pound stolen car ring has been jailed - after filming himself posing behind the wheel of one of the luxury vehicles. Oliver Cooper, 23, recorded himself on his mobile phone inside a £55,000 Range Rover Sport which he had just nicked from a Birmingham retail park. Cooper, who admitted conspiracy to burgle and conspiracy to handle stolen goods, was jailed for six years and eight months at Birmingham Crown Court on August 8.

He was easily identified by police as his face was clearly visible in the footage, which helped link him to at least 35 offences. A court heard Cooper went on a ten month crime spree between July 2021 and May 2022 targeting dozens of high-performance cars across the West Midlands.

Among the vehicles taken were 17 Range Rovers, 14 Audis, as well as Jaguars and Mercedes worth a total of over £4 million. Some were stolen in car key burglaries and one on occasion the owners of two Audis were threatened with a knife in their own home before handing over the keys.

Many of the vehicles were pinched after being parked up at shopping centres and restaurants across Birmingham, Solihull and Sandwell. Cooper was eventually caught after he was identified from CCTV footage involving the theft of another car, a Ford Fiesta, on February 8.

The vehicle, which had been taken in Birmingham three weeks earlier, pinged an ANPR camera in Birmingham city centre and officers began a pursuit. The doors to car were seen to open as it hurtled through the busy streets and a suspect fled through the Bullring Shopping Centre.

Investigators worked with Birmingham City Council to track down CCTV which showed the offender who police later identified as Cooper. He was arrested at his home in Sylvan Avenue, Northfield, Birmingham on September 16, 2021 and two phones we seized.

Digital forensic experts found incriminating videos, messages and images relating to stolen vehicles and criminal activity. This included times and locations which linked Cooper to the offences, while video recovered from the phone showed the interior of many of the stolen cars. Experts also retrieved messages off them which listed details of the makes and models that had been taken.

What has West Midlands Police said?

Detective Constable Miller, from West Midlands Police, said: “Cooper’s mobile phones revealed to us footage from inside many of the vehicles that he’d been involved in stealing. They proved a goldmine for us and was vital at helping us identify the stolen vehicles, and in some cases being able to reunite them with their owners. But it also proved his downfall as in one clip he is caught in the shot.

“It helped us link him to the offences which saw dozens of expensive cars, some valued at up to £80,000, being stolen from across Birmingham – Northfield, Rednall, Selly Oak, Stirchley, Harborne, Barnt Green, Rubery – as well as Solihull and into Halesowen and Oldbury. And we worked with Birmingham City Council to retrieve CCTV footage of him after he ran from a stolen car which we’d tracked through the city centre.”