A prolific thief who shared films of the cars he had stolen on TikTok has been jailed.
Reece Callum Davidson has been given an extra four years’ imprisonment on top of a five-year sentence handed out in March 2023.
Davidson, 25, formerly of Carr Lane, Acomb, was sentenced at York Crown Court today (Wednesday), after pleading guilty to 13 burglaries, 12 car thefts, two counts of handling stolen goods, a burglary at Tadcaster Yorwaste site, and one attempted house burglary.
Davidson targeted properties with high specification cars outside, predominantly Volkswagen Golfs and other high-performance hatchbacks.
In a five-month period, he stole seven VW Golf Rs, one Golf GTE, one Golf GTi, one VW T-Roc, a BMW M3, an Audi S3, and Seat Leon Cupra, along with goods from the properties that he burgled.
His total haul was worth more than £300,000.
The defendant broke into his victims’ homes by damaging locks on the doors and windows, before searching for the car keys and stealing the cars parked on the drive or in the street.
Davidson then audaciously paraded the vehicles on viral video platform TikTok through his channel YO31Dingers, where they were offered for sale.
North Yorkshire Police’s York and Selby Expedite Team launched Operation Zinc to investigate the car-key burglaries in York and surrounding villages between May and October 2022.
Several of the cars Davidson stole have now been recovered by police. But some were sold to buyers from Bradford, Wakefield, Hull and as far south as London, and a number of them are yet to be found.
Investigating officer Detective Constable Oliver Dalby said: “The victims of Davidson’s offending have been profoundly affected by his crimes.
“Some of them awoke in the middle of the night, to find him in their home wearing a balaclava. I can only imagine the fear that such an experience would cause.
“I would like to thank them for their support and patience throughout the investigation.
“Operation Zinc was a painstaking investigation that drew on the specialist skills of a number of departments across the force including response teams, crime scene investigation, intelligence, data analytics, forensics and the proactive specialist team known as Operation Expedite.
“The successful outcome is a result of hundreds of hours of work by dedicated officers and the strength of the evidence gathered has left Mr Davidson with no option but to admit his guilt.”
Davidson was already serving a five-year jail term for past offences.