Man who stole Land Rover and Fiat jailed

A man who stole two cars in Lichfield and Wombourne has been jailed for more than a year.

Lee Cotterill, aged 36, of HMP Stoke Heath, took a Land Rover and a Fiat Abarth in June 2022.

The first theft in Wombourne was discovered when the victim woke up and realised her Land Rover had been taken off the drive.

The stolen car was found later the same day in the Wolverhampton area.

We carried out a forensic examination and found DNA inside that matched Cotterill.

The second theft happened when Cotterill took a Fiat Abarth off the driveway of a home in Lichfield. It was recovered the next day after being abandoned in the Wolverhampton area.

In the early hours of 22 June (2022), officers spotted Cotterill driving a Transit van in Wolverhampton and arrested him.

He was charged with two counts of theft of a motor vehicle and sent to court. He pleaded guilty to the offences at an earlier hearing on 24 January 2024 and was sentenced to 16-months behind bars on 28 March 2024 at Stafford Crown Court.

He was recalled to prison when he was arrested for other matters and will serve a separate sentence.

Detective Inspector David Rowlands, who oversees our vehicle theft initiative, said: “Targeting offenders and finding new ways of protecting the belongings of our communities is a priority for all ten local policing teams in Staffordshire.

“Since we launched our clampdown on vehicle theft, we’ve arrested more than 120 suspected thieves and charged more than 50 with offences.

“We want to continue working proactively to target those responsible, which means working closely with neighbouring police forces, patrolling hotspots and using covert and overt tactics to catch criminals red-handed.”

To read more about what we’ve been doing, visit: More than 120 arrests and 50 charged – here’s what we’re doing to tackle vehicle theft | Staffordshire Police