A
pretty girl and Olympics-hopeful has been sentenced to prison time
after being found guilty of helping armed robbers escape a robbery.
Kirstie Covele
A British Olympic equestrian hopeful who drove a gang of armed
thieves to steal £700,000 worth of cars including Audis and BMWs has
been jailed for two years, Dailymail has reported.
The woman identified as Kirstie Covele, 18, was behind the wheel
during 13 of 33 burglaries which were carried out in just two months
last summer. The group managed to steal a range of vehicles including a
number of Mercedes, BMWs and Audis which amounted to £696,500.
They often wore 'skeleton' or ski masks when they raided the homes across Kent and south east London armed with screwdrivers.
Miss Covele, a talented horserider, later triggered automatic
number plate recognition (ANPR) cameras as she travelled in convoy with
the stolen vehicles.
She told police after her arrest that although she drove her
co-defendants around, she did not know of their criminal activity, and
was simply paid petrol money.
Maidstone Crown Court in Kent heard that the gang of eight - mostly
teenagers and some aged just 15 at the time - targeted the homes while
the occupiers were asleep.
After stealing car keys, the gang would then make off with the
vehicles to be either sold on with false plates, stripped of parts or
burnt out.
Police later found video footage of one of the vehicles on fire in a
field - a Mercedes worth £40,000 and stolen from Petts Wood in Kent -
on the phone of one of the thieves.
The court heard they were paid £1,500 to be shared between them for
each car stolen between June 12 and August 14 last year. Several
break-ins would be committed in one night, with some residents having
two cars stolen off their driveways. The gang even had the audacity to
target one road on two consecutive nights.
Former agricultural college student Covele, of Orpington, looked
stunned as she was sentenced to two years in a young offenders'
institution on Monday after admitting conspiracy to steal.
Father-of-three Thomas Ripley, 21, was described as the
'controlling mind' of the organised enterprise and involved in 21
break-ins and thefts. He was jailed for five years. Ripley, of St Mary
Cray, Kent, together with Jack Hever, 20, and Freddie Friend, 17, of
Orpington and 16-year-old Harry Turner, of Northfleet, admitted
conspiracy to burgle.
Apprentice engineer Hever was sentenced to three years' youth
custody, Friend was given a two-year detention and training order, and
Turner was sentenced to an 18-month detention and training order.
Shannon Kelynack, 19, of Orpington, Charlie Parker, 16, of Orpington,
and a 16-year-old girl who cannot be named for legal reasons, pleaded
guilty to conspiracy to steal.
Kelynack was given two years' youth custody and Parker was
sentenced to a 12-month detention and training order. The teenage girl
was not at court today as she was sitting a GCSE exam. She will be
sentenced tomorrow. The court heard the burglaries were carried out in
Bexley, Bexleyheath, Petts Wood, Orpington, Swanley, West Kingsdown,
Otford, Dartford, Hartley, Strood, Higham and Larkfield.
Sentencing the seven gang members, Judge Adele Williams said the
burglaries 'bore the hallmarks' of professional crime. She said: 'Tools were used to gain access and many of the householders were asleep in their homes.
'I have read victim personal statements and they make plain not
surprisingly how badly affected they have been by thrse crimes, with
feelings of violation of their homes as well as the financial loss and
inconvenience they have suffered.
'The houses were targeted for their high-value cars. They were disposed of either in their entirety or for their parts.
'I have no doubt there were those higher up the chain who were
older and more sophisticated criminals than you, but each of you played
your part in this criminality.'
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