Caravan stolen from north Wales returned to legitimate owner

On Friday 16 June 2023, Greater Manchester Police officers carried out several simultaneous warrants at an address on Hall Lane, Little Lever in Bolton.

Several vehicles and three caravans were recovered, and after initial checks at the location it was revealed that they had been stolen from multiple locations around England and Wales.

Following extensive work by GMP’s Stolen Vehicle Examination Unit (SVEU), it was established that one of the caravans recovered had been taken from north Wales on Sunday 5 March 2023.

One of the main factors that led to the true identification of the caravan was the vehicle’s identification number (VIN) had been altered, with the last two digits being changed from ‘66’ to ‘88’.

Information on the Police National Computer also had a marker on the stolen caravan that stated there was a dent under the word ‘Exquisite’, which was consistent with a dent on the recovered caravan.

An examiner from the SVEU managed to get in touch with the caravan’s rightful owner, returning it to her after more than three months.

Jason Roberts, from GMP’s Stolen Vehicle Examination Unit, said: “We were delighted to return the caravan to its rightful owner, underlining our commitment to reunite stolen vehicles to those that they belong to.

“This was different from what we usually deal with but after some hard work and numerous phone calls, we managed to establish that the VIN number had been tampered with.

“The individuals that took the caravan had clearly gone to great lengths to ensure that its true identity could not be revealed, but thankfully we managed to get to the correct conclusion.

“After speaking with the owner, she was able to point out more identifying factors that would have made up in the interior compared to the standard, off-the-production line models.

“Details such as extra plug sockets that she had fitted, a microwave oven and a broken salad tray within the fridge, as well as many more.”