A young criminal involved in a multi-million pound stolen car ring has been jailed – after filming himself behind the wheel of a luxury vehicle he had just nicked.

Oliver Cooper, 23, handled over 30 stolen high end vehicles valued at £4m in less than year, during a crime spree in the Midlands.

However he was caught out after posing in a video selfie while driving the £55,000 Range Rover Sport, stolen from a busy Birmingham retail park.

CCTV footage captures the daylight burglary, and a stolen Ford Fiesta that drives up to a parked 4×4.

Cooper gets out of the passenger side of the Fiesta and breaks into the Range Rover.

Oliver Cooper, 23, handled over 30 stolen high end vehicles valued at £4m in less than year, during a crime spree in the Midlands

Oliver Cooper, 23, handled over 30 stolen high end vehicles valued at £4m in less than year, during a crime spree in the Midlands

However he was caught out after posing in a video selfie while driving the £55,000 Range Rover Sport, stolen from a busy Birmingham retail park

However he was caught out after posing in a video selfie while driving the £55,000 Range Rover Sport, stolen from a busy Birmingham retail park

He then drives off in the Range Rover and the Ford Fiesta can be seen following in convoy.

The high-end vehicle was dumped in a road just over three miles away and by that time on January 27 2021 it was already on fake number plates.

It was recovered 30 minutes after it had been taken, and at some point during that time Cooper filmed the selfie.

Over a week later, on February 8, officers pursued Cooper in a car chase through Birmingham city centre.

He sprinted from the identical-looking Ford Fiesta and ran down the stairs of the Bullring shopping centre.

CCTV footage of the high speed pursuit led to cops identifying Cooper, aided by Birmingham City Council’s cameras.

Cooper was involved in the theft of a high-end Range Rover Sport (file photograph)

Cooper was involved in the theft of a high-end Range Rover Sport (file photograph) 

West Midlands Police arrested him at his home in Northfield on September 16 2021 – two phones were seized and analysed by digital forensic episodes.

Videos, messages and images revealed the 23 year old had been on a crime spree targeting dozens of high-performance cars across Birmingham, Solihill and Sandwell.

The ring he was involved in stole 17 Ranger Rovers, 14 Audis, Jaguars and Mercedes with a value totalling over £4 million.

Videos on his devices showed the interiors of many of the burgled cars, and messages listed details of the makes and models that had been taken.

Further defendants are expected appear before a judge in relation to the car gang.

On one occasion the owners of two Audis were threatened at knifepoint to hand over the keys in their own home.

Homes were usually hit at night with car key burglaries, but many parked vehicles were taken from shopping centres and restaurants.

West Midlands Police have recovered and returned a few cars to their owners, including the Range Rover Sport that got him busted after he took it in Selly Oak on January 27 2021 and ditched it on Grimley Road.

During the July 2021 and May 2022 spate he committed at least 35 offences.

Cooper admitted conspiracy to burgle and conspiracy to handle stolen goods and was jailed for six years and eight months at Birmingham Crown Court on Tuesday August 8.

DC Miller, from the Force Priorities and Vulnerabilities Team who lead the investigation 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.”

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