Convict brothers ran £125k illegal 'chop shop' to fund 'lucrative lifestyle'
dailyrecord.co.ukTwo brothers raked in more than £120,000 breaking down stolen top-of-the-range cars and selling the parts on eBay. Connor and Kieran Maher ran the illegal 'chop shop' out of a Radcliffe mill - taking apart around 16 new high-end vehicles to flog online, Manchester Evening News reports.
Minshull Street Crown Court heard that cars recovered from the criminal operation ranged for wholly intact to completely stripped down to just wheels and panels.
Connor, 29, created the eBay account under the username ‘connormaher92’ before renaming it ‘C.Parts’, with the site having substantially increased in traffic following the siblings' release from custody for separate offences. “A speculative search identified that eBay user account connormaher92 listed numerous vehicle parts for sale.
It was clear from the adverts that the vast majority of parts were from ‘late model’ or nearly new vehicles, with volume parts from the same relatively new vehicle,” Mark Kellet, prosecuting, said.On March 17 2020, officers attended at Unit 58, Pioneer Mill, and found Kieran on the phone outside, and Connor driving a white Berlingo van at the back.Following a search of Connor’s address in Poynton in April, officers found a Ford Fiesta, a Range Rover and a BMW which contained vehicle parts, £100 in cash, a registration plate and a radio frequency detector used to block transmission from devices such as tracking devices.On the Range Rover, the Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) had been ground away.
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