Two men have confessed to their part in a “chop shop” conspiracy that saw vans from all over Bolton stolen and chopped up.
The pleas come after a trial opened this week into a group of men accused of stealing, dismantling and selling on at least £600,000 worth of vans, from across Bolton, Bury and beyond.
But at the end of the first day of the trial at Bolton Crown Court, 27-year-old Bradley Jackson pleaded guilty to money laundering.
The Honorary Recorder for Bolton Judge Martin Walsh said: “So far as Bradley Jackson is concerned the trial is at an end.
“He has pleaded guilty to count three on the indictment and he will be dealt with in due course for that matter.”
Another man, 25-year-old Teejay Jackson had also been due to stand trial but pleaded guilty to conspiracy to steal a motor vehicle on Tuesday, before the start of the trial.
Two more men, 60-year-old Thomas Jackson and his 32-year-old nephew Josh Jackson are on trial at Bolton Crown Court accused of being involved in the conspiracy.
Prosecutor Henry Blackshaw told the jury of nine women and three men at the opening of the trial that they were in the “business” of running three chop shops around Bolton.
He said: “The police investigation arises out of the discovery of three so-called ‘chop shops.’”
He added: “When I say business, this is what it was, a family business albeit an illegal one unlike the other family businesses we may be familiar with.”
According to Mr Blackshaw, the gang first mainly targeted Ford Transit vans before moving on to Mercedes Sprinter vans later on in 2020.
Mr Blackshaw told the court the Jacksons had been involved in setting up three chop shops, one after the other.
The first had been running at Chequerbent Works in Westhoughton from at least September 2019 until police discovered it in March 2020.
Undeterred, Mr Blackshaw said that the family gang then set up a second chop shop in Farnworth in September 2020, which was discovered in November that same year.
This too was discovered by police and Mr Blackshaw said that then gang then opened a third chop shop at Halliwell Mill in Halliwell in November 2021.
The final chop shop was discovered by police in February 2021.
Mr Blackshaw told the jury that the Jacksons had been making “quite tidy sums of money” from their crimes but that the thefts had caused “tremendous loss” to the vans’ rightful owners.
He said: “Of course for anyone having their car nicked in the dead of night is extremely upsetting.”
But he said this was especially devastating to small business people who relied on their vans for their livelihoods.
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Mr Blackshaw said that Bradley Jackson was “the person who fronted up the purchase of the land that was to be the second chop shop, this Farnworth chop shop.”
He claimed that Teejay had been involved in theft.
Bradley Jackson, of Barratt Avenue, Kearsley and Teejay Jackson, of Bradford Road, Farnworth will both be sentenced at a later date.
Thomas Jackson, of St Gregory’s Close, Farnworth and Josh Jackson, of Wildman Lane, Farnworth both deny conspiracy to steal a motor vehicle and conspiracy to handle stolen goods.
The trial continues.
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