Just TWO per cent of UK Car Thefts result in prosecution

New analysis of car thefts and prosecutions in the UK has revealed that just two per cent of car thefts in the UK result in prosecution.

It’s long been the case that Police forces in the UK don’t take car theft as seriously as they perhaps should, and we reported back in 2015 that they don’t even bother investigating a quarter of all reported car thefts.

But it seems that ignoring a quarter of all car thefts is just the tip of the iceberg, with new analysis from Churchill Car Insurance revealing that prosecutions for car theft run at just two per cent of reported thefts in the UK.

Between 2012 and 2016 there were almost 380,000 car thefts in the UK, but just 7,405 miscreants were brought in front of the courts, a prosecution rate which would cause uproar if it were for any other sort of crime, never mind one running in to the theft of tens of thousands of pounds.

Perhaps that’s because car theft is considered by many to be ‘Victimless’ as we all have to have insurance and therefore shouldn’t be (much) out of pocket. But that’s hardly the point; perhaps resources should be shifted by our diminishing Police Force from ‘Internet’ crime to real crime?

To make matters worse, it seems that of those successfully prosecuted for car theft, just 20 per cent got a custodial sentence – averaging 21 months – and the remaining 80 per cent of miscreants got a fine averaging just £198.

The good news is that 40 per cent of stolen cars do get returned to their owners (although two-thirds in a damaged state), but with no real deterrent for car thieves, how on earth will this silly situation ever improve?