£200k underworld plate maker who serviced would-be killers for £30-a-time

An 'underworld' number plate maker who ran the cut-price racket from his bedroom has been jailed. 'Trusted' Daniel Day cloned number plates for just £30 for a set.

The 32-year-old - known in the underworld as 'Skell' - sold thousands of plates to criminals. Cars with the cloned plates were used in an attempted murder, armed robbery and burglaries.

Day made a failed bid for freedom, attempting to flee his Black Country home as police stormed the property. He was captured on camera strolling out of the house and straight into the path of police.

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He played a 'crucial role in the criminal underworld', West Midlands Police said. He was so 'reliable', officers would often find his contact details in the phones of other criminals.

Police estimate he made more than £200,000 from his 'commercial enterprise', providing 7,000 false plates during his scam. Day's enterprise was uncovered when police were carrying out another investigation into a car crime gang in the Black Country.

The gang had ordered 94 sets of cloned plates from Day in one year, with police tracing them back to the defendant. Their enquiries revealed 'customers' would steal cars before getting Day to make number plates matching the make and model, while also disguising the car's real identity.

They even included logos ripped off from genuine dealerships. Detectives discovered one set of plates was requested, produced and attached to a cloned car within the space of just 18 minutes.

A surveillance operation revealed Day would meet associates in alleyways and abandoned car parks, travelling by motorbike and stashing the plates in his jacket. His illegal plates were used on vehicles involved in more than 140 crimes including an armed robbery at a Dudley post office, a Wolverhampton shooting and multiple car key burglaries and bilkings.

Equipment and software used to make the cloned plates was found in a bedroom when police raided his house in Coronation Road, Tipton, last May. Day fled through the back garden but ran straight into police, who used a drone during the raid.

A 'business' phone used to make the deals was found in his pocket. Day was found to have been using a laptop previously owned by a legitimate number plate making business which closed down.

An examination of his phone indicated that 420 sets of number plates were asked for during just one eight-week period. He also received 67 requests for false plates in only a week.

Day admitted perverting the course of justice and possessing criminal property. He was jailed for three years and four months at Wolverhampton Crown Court yesterday, Monday, June 18.

Det Con Kelly Whyte, of West Midlands Police's major crime proactive team, said: "This was organised crime on an industrial scale. Day had built a reputation as someone who could supply criminals with number plates to disguise their identities and frustrate police, and he could do it incredibly quickly.

"It was run like a commercial enterprise. We estimate he made more than £200,000 from this enterprise and in one week alone he received 67 requests.

"He helped criminals involved in a host of crimes, from driving away from petrol stations without paying for fuel to attempted murder. He was so trusted and reliable, that we would often find his details in the phones of criminals he had had helped when we prosecuted them for other crimes.

"Every one of the crimes he helped make happen will have had a victim, and it’s impossible to gauge the full extent on the impact his business had on them. His conviction shows our determination to take on organised criminals and put them behind bars to protect the public."