Kyle Camp, the final member of a violent car theft ring that terrorised Greater Manchester and Cheshire, has been sentenced to 14 years and four months in prison following an extensive investigation codenamed Operation Napoleon.

The 23-year-old pleaded guilty to three counts of burglary, six counts of theft, six counts of robbery, and two counts of handling stolen goods, bringing the total number of convicted gang members to nine. His sentencing at Manchester Crown Court on Friday marks the culmination of a complex investigation that began when specialist officers from Greater Manchester Police’s Tactical Vehicle Intercept Unit identified a pattern of escalating violence across multiple jurisdictions.

The court heard how Camp and his associates embarked on a seven-week crime spree in 2022, often stealing several vehicles in a single night while armed with knives and tools. Victims were subjected to brutal assaults and threats, including a man who was dragged from his bed at knifepoint and forced to surrender his BMW keys, and another who was violently attacked and pinned to the ground while his car was stolen.

Detectives pieced together Camp’s involvement through meticulous analysis of mobile phone evidence, including images and videos that showed him boasting about stolen vehicles on social media. A breakthrough came when police recovered a snood from a stolen car in Grotton that contained Camp’s DNA, while phone data placed him at the scene of multiple offences, including a burglary in Droylsden where he drilled through a back door to access the property.

Detective Constable Chris Chinnery from GMP’s Serious Organised Crime Group said: “Kyle Camp’s crimes not only had significant financial implications for our victims, but most distressing, they had huge emotional impacts on victims who were either violently assaulted or threatened with weapons by Camp. One man was left feeling so unsafe that he felt he had no choice but to move to a different part of the country.”

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