Trial at Oxford Crown Court linked to tractor theft conspiracy

Hristo Chenchev, 46, was arrested near Manor Farm caravan site, where James ‘Jimmy’ Sheen’s gang was based on May 25, 2020, jurors at Oxford Crown Court heard.

Driving a yellow van, he was said to have been at the Kidlington meeting point together with lorries to spirit away the stolen tractors, £8,000 cash in his pocket and a mobile phone containing messages between him and the gang that stole the tractors.

In a lane and in a woodland glade not far from the traveller site were three New Holland tractors and an Axion tractor stolen in different raids.

Police had been called by a soil expert who was working in a neighbouring field. He had seen two blue New Holland tractors parked up in a secluded lane together with the two lorries and thought it was suspicious.

Case opened

Opening the Crown’s case against Chenchev on Monday (March 20), prosecutor Oliver Wellings said the yellow van driver was arrested at the scene then interviewed the following day.

He answered all questions ‘no comment’, but gave a fuller account when he was re-interviewed a year and a half later.

Summarising Chenchev’s expected defence to the charge of conspiracy to convert criminal property, Mr Wellings said: “‘Yes, I was there. Yes, it’s my phone. Yes, I accept I’ve been in contact with these individuals.

“But he told police, in essence, he didn’t know he was involved in a criminal enterprise, didn’t know that it was stolen property he was dealing with.”

Analysis of Chenchev’s mobile phone showed the Bulgarian – also known as ‘Chris’ – had been in contact with members of Sheen’s gang following three thefts on almost consecutive evenings between May 18 and 25, 2020, the court heard.

The contact was forged through gang member David Riley, Mr Wellings said. It began after the gang stole two CLAAS Axion tractors, together worth more than £100,000, from an Olivers dealership on the night of May 17.

The following day, one of the gang members messaged a fellow thief: “Blackie [Riley] said to give him some pictures of them and he will send them through to the man and the man will come down and pick them up or something.”

Mr Wellings told jurors: “Mr Chenchev is ‘The Man’ who is interested in buying the stolen tractors.”

There was ‘extensive contact’ between Riley and Chenchev on May 18, including images of the tractors sent to the alleged fence, the court heard. GPS data allegedly suggested Chenchev also travelled down to Manor Park, Kidlington, to pick up ‘one or both of the tractors’.

Hristo Chenchev outside Oxford Crown Court, where he is on trial for conspiracy to convert criminal property Picture: Oxford Mail (Image: Oxford Mail)

Other thefts

Similar messages were said to have been sent after two other tractor thefts, one from a dealership in Cassington and another from a farm near Brill.

After the theft of six tractors from CFS in Cassington, Riley allegedly sent Chenchev a video of the £60,000 New Holland vehicles hidden in woodland. Phone records showed the defendant later searched the web for police reports about the tractor theft.

Sheen was said to have sent two voice messages to Chenchev after the third theft on the night of May 24.

The messages had been deleted, but Mr Wellings said the jury could piece together what they might have been about from Chenchev’s internet searches the following morning. He had looked up the Merlo brand of machinery that had been stolen the night before, it was said.

The prosecutor said: “If the gang wasn’t quite stealing to order for Mr Chenchev they had him at the head of the queue [of] potential buyers and were alerting him to stolen goods within moments of the theft taking place.”

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Second arrest

Detectives visited Chenchev’s home in December 2021 some 18 months after his first arrest. They discovered £42,000 in cash, despite a relatively modest declared income, the jury heard.

They also found a number of document stamps claiming to be for either bogus businesses or firms to which Chenchev had no links. The stamps were of the type that might be used to mark paperwork for transporting vehicles, Mr Wellings said.

In his second interview with the police, he claimed to have been ‘directed’ to Manor Park by a man named in court as ‘Mr Ivanov’.

Chenchev accepted knowing David Riley, as he had bought a Jeep and motorcycle from him, but did not know Jimmy Sheen and could not explain why the man’s number was on his phone, the jury was told.

Similarly, he could not account for pictures and a video of the stolen machinery being on his mobile phone.

He claimed the £8,000 cash he had with him on the day of his arrest in May 2020 was his sister’s and to be used to buy a car. The cash in his property was ‘from business deals in Bulgaria’, Mr Wellings summarised.

Chenchev, of Greenwich, London, denies conspiracy to convert criminal property. The trial continues.