Criminals caught with ‘signal jammers’ used in car thefts to face five years in prison

Gadgets used in four in ten car thefts are being outlawed. Criminals caught with ‘signal jammers’ will face up to five years in prison under new laws to crack down on gadgets used to steal cars. The devices, which allow thieves to get in a vehicle without a key, are used in four in ten vehicle thefts in England and Wales.

Possession, distribution or sale of the technology will be banned under new legislation being introduced to Parliament under the Crime and Policing Bill on Tuesday. Anyone who is found in possession of one, or to have imported, made, adapted or distributed them, could be jailed for five years and receive an unlimited fine.

Currently, people can only be prosecuted if there is proof that they have used them to commit a crime. Under the new law, the burden of proof will be on the owner to demonstrate they were using the device for a legitimate purpose. Analysis of Home Office figures by the Liberal Democrats last month revealed that 78.5 per cent of car thefts go unsolved.

They demanded more investment in community policing to tackle the issue, as the party claimed almost 25,000 such crimes went unsolved within three months. Labour’s policing minister Dame Diana Johnson said: "These thefts have a devastating effect on victims, who need their vehicles to go about their everyday lives.

"We are aware of the real concerns people feel with the use of these electronic devices being so prolific.". There were 732,000 incidents of vehicle-related theft in the year ending September 2024, the Home Office said. The most common way theft from a vehicle – or the theft of the vehicle itself – occurs with the use of these electronic devices, with keyless repeaters and signal amplifiers being used to scramble the signal from remote locking devices.

According to the 2022/23 Crime Survey for England and Wales, an offender manipulated a signal from a remote locking device in 40 per cent of thefts of vehicles. The Metropolitan Police estimates that as many as 60 per cent of thefts in London use the technology.

Assistant Chief Constable Jenny Sims, National Police Chiefs’ Council lead for vehicle crime, said the tools have been easily accessible for far too long. “These devices have no legitimate purpose, apart from assisting in criminal activity, and reducing their availability will support policing and industry in preventing vehicle theft which is damaging to both individuals and businesses,” she added.

Motoring industry leaders have welcomed the changes, with RAC head of policy Simon Williams saying the ban “cannot come soon enough”. AA president Edmund King added: "This is a positive step, and these tougher sentences should make would-be thieves think again before stealing cars. As fast as vehicle technology has evolved, thieves have always tried to keep pace and beat the security systems.