‘Stupid and naïve’ mechanic dismantled stolen cars to pay off cocaine debt

William O'Neill was a former Mercedes-Benz apprentice

‘Stupid and naïve’ mechanic dismantled stolen cars to pay off cocaine debt
Photo: Bigstock

A former mechanic from Lancashire has pleaded guilty to handling stolen goods after police discovered he was involved in a cut-and-shut operation.

William O’Neill ran a ‘chop shop’ from a rented industrial unit in Blackburn, where he dismantled premium cars to pay off a drug debt.

O’Neill, 26, had completed an apprenticeship with Mercedes-Benz, but had developed an addiction to cocaine. When drug dealers discovered his skills, O’Neill was put to work tearing apart cars for the cut-and-shut operation.

LancsLive describes how police used a tracking device to trace a stolen Range Rover to O’Neill’s unit, where they found him dismantling the vehicle. Police also traced a stolen Mercedes-Benz to a farm near Blackburn, where O’Neill was living in a caravan.

Officers found two cars bought as insurance write-offs by the farm’s owner, David Roberts. Both cars were being repaired using parts from stolen vehicles.

Defending William O’Neill, Mark Stuart said his decision to dismantle cars for a drug gang was “stupid and naïve”.

Judge Davies said: “The vehicles were high value – well in excess of £100,000. The prosecution say there are clear elements to this case that show it is a professional and sophisticated set up and at least in a number of cases you were in possession of very recently stolen cars.

”The defence say this is a case where you were performing a limited function – you weren’t involved from start to finish. There was some element of pressure from the people to whom you owed money and there is no indication you earned a lot of money from this illegal activity.”

O’Neill was sentenced to 24 months in prison, suspended for two years, with 15 days of rehabilitation activity. For his part, Roberts was handed a two-year conditional discharge.

Source: LancsLive

1 Comment

  1. These ‘high value’ cars that were damaged in the first place, must have had structural damage to have been total loss by the insurers. if insurers then placed these as cat B , (Break only)instead of selling them on to go back on the road then this would reduce the dodgy repairs / repairs using stolen parts . If repairs are not cost effective in the first place then vehicles should be dismantled and only used to supply parts in the industry to ‘registered’ bodyshops

    Reply

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