Car Thieves Jailed After Victim's Own Earphones Led Police to Their Maidstone Addresses

Two men have each been sentenced to 18 months in prison for stealing a Land Rover Discovery from a Rainham driveway, after Kent Police tracked them to addresses in Maidstone using wireless earphones the vehicle's owner had left inside.

At 8.47pm on 21 January 2023, the pair arrived at a property on Miers Court Road, Rainham, in a Volvo V70 and took the black Land Rover Discovery parked outside - the whole theft caught on CCTV and over in under two minutes. One of the men was filmed wearing a hi-vis vest, which later became key evidence in the case. The two vehicles then left in convoy. Shortly afterwards, Kent Police received a report of a man driving the stolen Land Rover while wearing a balaclava, and officers began making their way to the scene.

The vehicle's owner had left their wireless earphones inside the car, and officers used the live-location facility on the owner's phone to follow exactly where the earphones - and the men who'd taken them - had travelled. The trail led detectives to Surrey Road and Camp Way in Maidstone, where they arrested the two men, seizing the hi-vis vest and a mobile phone at one of the addresses. A review of that phone turned up a message sent the night before the theft: 'Give me a call in the morning or tonight. Got a little remission for us tomorrow night on our doorstep. You'll like it.'

Both men pleaded guilty to theft of a motor vehicle and were sentenced at Maidstone Crown Court on Thursday 1 October. Investigating officer Detective Constable Paul Marsh said: "Thanks to officers' innovative use of modern technology, we were able to track two criminals from the scene of a crime to their home addresses and swiftly arrest them. The defendants initially tried to deny the offence but were forced to plead guilty after being confronted with the overwhelming evidence of their involvement." Source: Kent Police