Operation Napoleon, an Investigation by Greater Manchester Police into a prolific gang of Car Thieves saw the ninth offender jailed after pleading guilty to three counts of Burglary, six counts of Theft, six counts of Robbery and two counts of Handling Stolen Goods.
In July 23, GMP had convicted seven teens of a string of burglaries across the Manchester and Cheshire area. Specialist Officers from the interceptor Units (TVIU) identified patterns of offending and the Serious Organised Crime Group (SOCG) were brought in to link the crimes and secure sentencing. During these investigations, Kyle Camp was quickly identified as being involved. An image of Kyle on the phone of the original defendants phone from GMP’s original investigation showing him with the vehicle they had stolen. It also showed communications between this defendant and Camp, with Camp bragging about cars that he had stolen.
Theft Sprees by this gang included the thefts of several vehicles in one night and incidences where victims were approached by armed members of the gang, with threats and violence used to force owners to hand over keys to vehicles.
An earlier theft in 2021, a vehicle that had been stolen from Moston area was found displaying false plates. Inside, a snood was found, with DNA linking Kyle Camp to the vehicle. Later, a Golf was taken from the Droylsden area. Two sets of keys were taken from the property. A video on Kyle Camps’ own phone showed this vehicle and his phone had connected to mast sites near the site of the theft.
Later, Another robbery saw the armed gang enter a property wearing Balaclavas and armed with Knives. The owner was surprised and put up a fight, but the gang managed to escape with the owners car keys and car.
June 22nd in Oldham saw a man followed home by a grey BMW car. This was later confirmed by ANPR Cameras. He had entered his drive, and was promptly approached by Kyle Camp and Ryan Pearce (jailed in September after pleading Guilty to the offence) The man was violently assaulted, pinned to the ground and threatened at knife-point whilst his keys and car were stolen It was recovered by GMP the following day, baring false registration plates.
UKBTA TEAM: We constantly advise owners of vehicles to be vigilant about being followed as this is increasingly becoming a common tactic. You can make yourself more aware, and take precautions to protect yourself. Precautions to make yourself less of a target for home invasion burglaries and robberies include simple adjustments such as number plate spacing and fonts. ANPR cannot read Miss-spaced or Pauper Plates allowing thieves time and freedom to take your vehicle. Avoid going directly home if being followed and be more aware of what is around you. You can find out more on ALL ABOUT OODA
June 21st in Rochdale, Kyle Camp again approached an owners of a Seat Leon Cupra and threatened him, forcing him to hand over keys to his car. Minutes later Camp would post images on social media showing the car he had just stolen.
June 30TH, another family were awaken in the early hours my masked men armed with knives. A male victim was dragged into another room to wake his brother and the keys to his BMW were taken. Shortly after, on 4th July in the town of Denton, a female was approached by two men who demanded keys to her car. As they left, they hit another vehicle. Text messages between the two later revealed they had laughed about the incident and commenting ‘I got blocked in, LOL’ and ‘Had to ram em’
Two days later on 6th July in Middleton, a victim woke up and noticed that his daughters handbag was missing and that the back door of the house was wide open. Upon checking further, two motorcycles that were stored in his garage had been stolen. A picture of Kyle Camp he posted on Social media posing on the stolen motorbike is above.
Kyle Camp was later arrested at a Kebab shop in the Longsight area, initially for two burglaries. From this, OCG Detectives managed to piece together a timeline linking Kyle Camp at every crime scene. He had been at 15 burglaries in the period of 7 weeks. His ‘no comment’ interviews and initial ‘not guilty’ plea saw Camp sentenced on Friday 24th January for the term of 14 years and 4 months.
