Peterborough keyless car thief ordered to pay back £11,000

Valdas Raudis, 44, was identified as part of a police investigation where he was linked to keyless car thefts across Peterborough.

The investigation found he had used specialist equipment to scan and obtain victims’ car key fob frequencies from within houses and drive the vehicles away without detection.

The investigation found Raudis was responsible for ten thefts which took place between 13 June and 18 October last year. The cars taken includeda Lnd Rover, Volvo and Nissan Qashqai.

Six out of the ten vehicles were recovered by police after being hidden in communal car parks across Peterborough.

On 5 March, 2020, officers conducted a warrant at Raudis’ home address in West Town, Peterborough, where they found and arrested him.

After he was arrested officers searched his property and found a cannabis production set up in the loft, later valued at £12,700. They also seized £11,655 in cash.

Raudis admitted conspiracy to steal motor vehicles, production of cannabis and abstracting electricity. In May he was jailed for three years and eight months.

Yesterday (29 September) at Cambridge Crown Court he appeared for a Proceeds of Crime Act hearing where he was ordered to forfeit the money seized by police.

PC Craig Trevor said: “Raudis being jailed earlier this year was the culmination of nine months of hard work investigating his crimes. I’m pleased that he was back in court again and has rightfully got to forfeit more than £11,000 of his ill-gotten gains.

“His actions had a significant impact on the victims as most of the vehicles stolen were family SUVs so parents were left without transport to go to work or take their children to school.

“Raudis took advantage of flaws in modern vehicle security. I would highly recommend all owners of keyless entry/start vehicles look at purchasing foil-lined pouches for both sets of their vehicle’s key fobs to block them from emitting a frequency and also consider securing their vehicles with low-tech items such as ‘pedal boxes’ which block offenders from accessing the ignition pedal at night.”

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