Cars and parts worth £500,000 found at A34 'chop shop'

Ali Teli, 38, had denied handling stolen goods or knowing that the items were thieved – instead heaping the blame on mystery man ‘Denny’ or ‘Danny’ to whom he sub-let  space at the A34-side yard between Oxford and Bicester.

But jurors took less than a day to reject his explanations, convicting the dad-of four of 11 counts of handling stolen goods and a 12th charge of perverting the course of justice by sending the police fake invoices through his solicitors in a doomed effort to cover his tracks.

Jailing him for six years at Oxford Crown Court on Thursday (August 3), Judge Michael Gledhill KC said of the mechanic’s operation: “It was almost industrial - and you were at the very centre of it.”

This luxury Range Rover was among the stolen cars being stripped at Teli's yard Picture: Thames Valley Police (Image: Thames Valley Police)

Police were tipped off to the chop shop scheme in April 2020. Officers were called by a private investigations firm brought in when a hire car was stolen in a burglary. A tracker fitted to the vehicle showed it was at Teli’s yard.

Officers arrested the mechanic and combed over the yard, discovering ‘thousands of parts’ including brand new engines.

Extensive police inquiries meant that detectives were able to prove a number of the top-brand cars on the site, such as a Range Rover and Mercedes, were stolen. By matching serial numbers, they were able to do the same with the parts on the site.

The stolen cars and parts had a combined value of £485,000, the court heard. 

Teli was interviewed multiple times by the police, claiming not to know the parts were stolen – and suggesting a man named variously as ‘Denny’ or ‘Danny’ had brought parts to the yard.

Asked what ‘Denny’ looked like, Teli said he was very similar to the police officer interviewing him: freckled, bearded and in his late 30s or early 40s. He had an Irish accent and lived in Oxford.

He said he had Denny or Danny’s phone number and postcode in his mobile, saved under ‘Danny Mercedes Parts’. He asked them to bring the phone so he could call him. “You listen to conversation. I say to him ‘Danny, what’s going on?’” he said.

'Thousands' of car parts littered the A34-side site, the court heard Picture: Thames Valley Police (Image: Thames Valley Police)

Sentencing Teli, of Elton Crescent, Wheatley, Judge Gledhill said there had been ‘no need’ to produce ‘clearly fake and falsified invoices’ or persuade others to do so.

The judge was similarly unimpressed with the evidence of one of the defence witnesses, who he suggested had given ‘lying evidence - quite deliberately’ in support of Teli.

In mitigation, Joshua Purser said his client, who still had family in Iraq, came to the UK ‘fleeing war’. He said: “He certainly took a wrong turn in terms of his decision making.” Teli was said to have four children, with his wife expecting their fifth child.

Ali Teli's police custody shot, taken on his arrest Picture: Thames Valley Police (Image: Thames Valley Police)