An organised crime group who carried out multiple burglaries, a vicious assault, and stole more than £215,000 worth of high-value cars have been jailed for a total of 27 and a half years.

In 2023, police identified a series of residential burglaries which could be linked via a distinctive Audi A8, which was one of just fifteen in the country.

The Audi was then seen at a petrol station with a wonky number plate which didn't match its genuine details.

Soon after, a second car suspected of being linked to the series was identified by a distinctive GB sticker on the back.

However, the challenge remained to identify the people involved and a complex investigation began which used a variety of tactics to uncover the full extent of their crimes.

Between June and August 2023, members of the group burgled multiple homes and were also linked to other offences including keyless car theft, where vehicles were taken close to the owners' house or from the front drive. 

Areas targeted included Epsom, Walton-On-Thames, Croydon, Chessington, New Malden, Raynes Park and Surbiton in the Metropolitan area.

During the spree, the gang would scope out a target vehicle, and either commit a burglary to steal the keys or use illegal devices to gain keyless entry.

They would then drive the vehicle away and park it elsewhere for a short time to see if any tracking devices had been activated.

In the meantime, they would identify similar vehicles which were insured, source illegal fake number plates, and fit them to the stolen vehicles to try and evade detection. 

On some occasions the stolen cars would ultimately end up at 'chop shops', where they were broken up into parts and sold for profit.

During the burglaries at both residential properties and some shops, they caused thousands of pounds worth of damage and on one occasion, three of the men (Harry Mackay, Rico Persechino and Jason Connors) - assaulted the occupier of an address with weapons.

After gathering a body of evidence on 29 August 2023, police proactively apprehended Rico Persechino and Harry Mackay outside a shop in East Grinstead.

Mackay tried to escape by running inside and heading to the staff door, but he was swiftly caught.

Officers later found a keyless car theft device that he'd tried to discard inside the shop.

The police investigation used a variety of tactics including identifying cloned number plates, tracking vehicles through automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) and matching the suspects' descriptions and clothing to CCTV footage.

During their burglaries, the group would often bring a large white carrier bag to carry the stolen goods and a comparison of CCTV footage enabled officers to tie offences to them due to the appearance of this same bag each time.

A victim of the group's criminal activities said: "The burglary was very distressing for both my partner and myself, and we felt a significant impact after the unwelcome intrusion from these criminals.

"I was very angry and upset and when I met with detectives the following day, I was close to tears and that's not in my nature.

"The thought of strangers going through your personal possessions, and the damage they caused to gain access to my property was scary. 

"My partner lost family jewellery that had been passed down through generations.

"After the robbery, I said I wanted to move, and I still might as this has had a long-term effect on me.

"I'm pleased to see the sentence this group were handed, and I was very impressed with the brilliant work of the police officers and detectives dealing with this case, they gave me faith throughout."

Lead investigator, Detective Inspector Daniel Voller, said: "This was a sophisticated and organised operation and exposing the full extent of their crimes was only possible thanks to the hard work and diligence of everyone involved, from detectives to intelligence teams.

"These thieves had no regard for anyone but themselves and escalated their offending from stealing cars outside homes to breaking inside and committing a serious assault.

"We have worked relentlessly over many months to prepare a strong case against them, and I'm pleased our efforts have resulted in getting them behind bars."

Following a trial at Guildford Crown Court on Monday 9 December, brothers Harry, Frankiem and Stevey MacKay appeared along with Jason Connors and Rico Persechino for sentencing.

Harry Mackay, 34, from Epsom pleaded guilty to Conspiracy to Steal Motor Vehicles, Conspiracy to Burgle and Conspiracy to Commit Robbery and was sentenced to eight years imprisonment.

Frankie Mackay, 35, also from Epsom, pleaded guilty to Conspiracy to Steal Motor Vehicles and was sentenced to 39 months.

Stevey Mackay, 32,  from Kingston pleaded guilty to Steal Motor Vehicles and was sentenced to 39 months.

Rico Persechino, 35 , also from Kingston pleaded guilty to Conspiracy to Steal Motor Vehicles, Conspiracy to Burgle, and Conspiracy to Commit Robbery and was sentenced to seven years and six months.

Jason Connors, 29, from Croydon pleaded guilty to Conspiracy to Commit Robbery and was sentenced to five years and four months.