The £3.5m car thieves

A gang who sold up to £3.5 million worth of stolen high-performance cars in a five-month crime spree are facing years behind bars today.

Police caught the eight-strong gang, known as The Firm, when they offered undercover officers more than 140 expensive cars during a sting operation between January and May.

Mercedes, BMWs, Jaguars, Porsches and Land-Rovers, all worth more than £25,000 each, were being sold on at knockdown prices - sometimes only 10 per cent of their market value. Undercover officer "Max" was offered the keys to a constant stream of prestige cars, often with two for sale one day and another the following day.

At times, cars stolen at night were being offered for sale by the early hours of the next day. On one occasion, the undercover officers were told about a stolen £26,000 BMW 325i convertible by text message.

Max bought 18 stolen cars from the gang complete with the original number plates and keys. Usually working at night, the gang burgled homes and car dealerships for the keys to the cars they spotted on drives or forecourts in wealthy areas.

In particular, they targeted Barnet, Muswell Hill, Hampstead Garden Suburb and Bushey, but cars were stolen from as far away as Nottingham, Essex and Surrey. Gang members blew the cash on drugs - particularly ecstasy and cocaine - and bought designer trainers and clothes.

But police said the gang " frittered away" the money. None bought ostentatious homes and most lived in council houses. Martin Tuvey, 26, a care assistant who worked in elderly people's homes, was the only one with a job.

Detective Chief Inspector Richard Henson, who led the investigation, said: "They were just young people who used this cash to live but none got rich."

Police said some of the cars were sold on to organised gangs in Africa, eastern Europe, India and the Middle East, where there is a big market for expensive fast cars. The victims included a doctor, a lawyer and other professionals who owned their cars or had company vehicles stolen.

Following a spate of 131 burglaries in Barnet, a joint operation between Hertfordshire and the Metropolitan police was launched last December. Max and other undercover officers, "Vinnie", "Steve" and "Martin", contacted one of the gang's leaders, 31-year-old John Massie.

Through him, they met The Firm's other bosses, 30-year-old Grant Donaldson, known as G, and Martin Simmons, "the Bald One", 37.

During six months' surveillance, they identified the other gang members, Andy James, 30, John Coulter, 25, Martin Tuvey, 26, Steven Masters, 26, and Dean Chase, 22. Also being sentenced is mother-of-two Cannan Woollacott.

On 13 January this year Max met Donaldson at a McDonald's restaurant on the A41 near Aldenham in Hertfordshire.

After being taken to the nearby Toby Jug pub, the undercover policeman paid £1,800 for a BMW worth £25,000. The car had been stolen a month earlier in Mortlake. Days later, Max was telephoned by Donaldson and offered an Audi A3 for £1,800 and a Mercedes SLK for £2,500. The officer met Donaldson and Simmons, again at the Toby Jug pub, where he bought the Mercedes which had been stolen from a dealer in Finchley. Woollacott, 34, who has pleaded guilty to theft, was a minor player in the gang but devoted to boyfriend Donaldson. Woollacott stole the keys to a friend's house for Donaldson so he could steal the family's Audi TT car.

For five months until their arrests, gang members continued to offer the officers highspecification cars, at one stage offering a Lexus for as little as £800 when they became desperate to move it on.

The gang pleaded guilty to 17 offences ranging from burglary, handling stolen goods and possession of drugs at Harrow Crown Court on 26 September.

Car crime costs the country tens of millions of pounds every year.