Jaguar Land Rover worker stole car parts worth £2 MILLION

[dutchman]

A Jaguar Land Rover employee who stole car parts with a retail value of up to £2 MILLION has been told to expect ‘a lengthy custodial sentence’.

Logistics co-ordinator Simon Wensley had denied the theft, over a three-year period, and a further charge of fraud by making false tax returns.

But at the end of a four-week trial at the Crown Court in Leamington the jury found Wensley, aged 55, of Kingsbury Road, Coundon, Coventry, guilty of both charges.

Prosecutor Laura Hobson said the thefts took place between May 2010 and the beginning of 2013 while Wensley was working for JLR in Gaydon.

He worked in the vehicle safety department which develops components such as seats and seat belts and, together with the Powertrain department, carries out tests on a track at Gaydon.

She told the court: “Simon Wensley has been employed by Jaguar Land Rover for many years, and he was well-liked by his colleagues and had a reputation for being effective, reliable and trustworthy.

“But that made it easier for him to take advantage of the trust placed in him and to steal from his employers.”

From 2006 he was employed as a project engineer by the car firm through a service company called Wenztec Ltd of which he was sole director. But after his contract was terminated because of a downturn in business, he returned to JLR to work a logistics co-ordinator for the vehicle safety department.

“Engineers would tell him what components they needed for a test, and Mr Wensley would place the order and deliver it to the engineer,” said Miss Hobson.

During the period of the offences Wensley earned a total of just over £126,000 which was paid to Wenztec, from which he drew an annual salary of £10,000.

Explaining how the thefts came to light, Miss Hobson said: “JLR’s investigation department noticed that a large number of parts were being ordered, particularly diesel fuel injectors, and there was no apparent reason for that.”

The parts were for an engine which had not been produced by JLR since 2007, but more than 2,000 – enough for more than 400 engines – had been ordered, mainly by Wensley.

In total, almost 4,500 parts with a retail value of £2 million were ordered by Wensley for vehicles which were no longer in production, but which could be sold on to owners of such vehicles, compared to only two such orders placed by other employees.

The jury heard that when police searched the Daventry premises of WT Motorsports, of which Wensley was a director, they found 276 items worth over £23,000.

His bank accounts and tax records showed that his declared income from Wenztec and WT Motorsports between 2010 and 2013 was £36,785.

But a total of more than £263,000 had been paid into his accounts in cash during that period – with more than £8,000 in cash being paid in each month.

“The only way to account for that is the sale of all those items he was stealing,” suggested Miss Hobson.

Wensley had claimed the money had come from his involvement in Masonic activities, his hobby of buying and selling Masonic regalia, and gambling.

The case was adjourned for pre-sentence reports, but Judge Andrew Lockhart warned Wensley to ‘expect a lengthy custodial sentence.’

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Simon Wensley sentenced to five years in prison



A JAGUAR Land Rover worker who flogged £2million of parts stolen from his employer has been jailed for five years.

Simon Wensley, aged 55, ordered 4,500 parts that weren’t required as part of his role in the firm’s vehicle safety department.

He then sold the excess stock and kept the cash.

Wensley, of Kingsbury Road, Coundon, denied the multi-million pound theft and fraud by making false tax returns but was found guilty by jurors at the crown court in Leamington earlier this month.

Today at the same court he was jailed for five years.

Det Con Martin Taylor, from the West Midlands Regional Organised Crime Unit, said: “Wensley was a clever and calculated individual who had worked with JLR for a number of years and gained trust within the business.

“He took advantage of his position running a scam that saw him steal millions of pounds worth of parts.

“The sentence he has been given today reflects the seriousness of his crimes and the damage it caused to his employers.

“We will now continue to pursue Wensley under the Proceeds of Crime Act to recoup his assets.”

[dutchman]

Coventry Jaguar Land Rover worker who stole parts worth £2m ordered to cough up just £260,000 compensation

A Jaguar Land Rover employee who stole car parts worth up to £2million from the company’s Gaydon site has been ordered to pay more than £260,000 in compensation.

Disgraced former logistics co-ordinator Simon Wensley, who had used his own automotive business as a cover to sell the stolen parts, is currently serving a five-year jail term.

Wensley, aged 56, of Kingsbury Road, Coundon, had denied the theft and two fraud charges, but was convicted after a four-week trial at Warwick Crown Court in May last year.

On that occasion a hearing under the Proceeds of Crime Act was adjourned for a police financial investigation into his assets to be carried out.

When that had been completed, the court heard that Wensley, who had maintained his innocence despite the verdicts, did not accept the findings.

But after further discussions on the day the Proceeds of Crime Act hearing was due to take place, prosecutor Rupert Jones and Wensley’s barrister Ben Williams said figures had been agreed.

Mr Jones said Wensley’s benefit from the thefts had been a total of £846,860 and, taking into account a share in the value of the marital home, his assets totalled £260,261.

So Judge Stephen Eyre QC made a confiscation order in that amount under the Proceeds of Crime Act.

He ordered it to be paid in full within three months, with Wensley facing an additional three years in jail in default, and to be used to pay compensation to JLR Gaydon.