A HARTLEBURY man was one of five found guilty of conspiracy to handle stolen vehicles in a £1.2 million car ringing plot following a six-week trial.

A jury of five men and seven women deliberated for three days before reaching their verdicts on Monday.

The men convicted were Stephen Clarke, 33, of Saxons Meadow, Walton Lane, Hartlebury, and formerly of Spring Bank, Hindlip, Worcester; Patrick Behan, 50, of The Dean, Earls Common, Droitwich, and formerly of Badgerbrook Lane, Astwood Bank, Redditch; Sameer Mistry, 25, of Raby Street, All Saints, and Anton Nar, 29, of Patricia Avenue, Goldthorn Park, both Wolverhampton; and Paul Mason, 40, of Studley Road, Redditch.

Unanimous guilty verdicts were returned against Clarke, Mistry and Nar, who were remanded in custody. Behan and Mason were found guilty by 10-2 majority verdicts and were remanded on bail. Judge John Cavell ordered pre-sentence reports in each case but warned that custody was inevitable.

The gang plotted to disguise and then dispose of stolen high-value cars such as BMWs, Mercedes, Porsche and Audi, said Malcolm Morse, prosecuting. The vehicles were taken during house burglaries. They were often re-sprayed and given new identities with forged documents.

The court is due to hear applications by the prosecution for the confiscation of assets from the accused and for compensation for two innocent purchasers of the stolen cars.

Operation Trinket was launched three years ago after the discovery of a Porsche Boxster which had been professionally altered. It turned up in Kent and was sold through a Redditch dealer.

West Midlands Police traffic constables Keith Sadler and Ian Rollason were given the task of following up the find and it led to them uncovering 44 high-value vehicles which had been similarly altered and given new identifications.

Only 31 were relative to the case before the court but there have been a total of 22 arrests, although not all cases progressed to court.

The constables, based with the force's vehicle initiative team at Aston, Birmingham, have travelled the length and breadth of Britain tracking down ringed vehicles.

Such scams are now big business, with youngsters paid small amounts to risk burglary and the theft of keys so that parked vehicles can be driven from the targeted houses.