How an organised crime gang in Stoke burgled a house via the key safe and stole a £40,000 car

A YouTube video revealing how an organised crime gang in Stoke burgled a house and stole a £40,000 car parked outside has gone viral, achieving more than 1.6 million views.

Popular UK-based YouTuber Mark McCann is well known for his posts about high-performance cars and lifestyle vlogs, regularly exposing vulnerabilities in car security and challenging car thieves to his more than 700,000 subscribers.

A former British and World Champion Stoxkarts racer, Mark turned to crime fighting in one of his latest videos, titled Confronting the UK’s Most Wanted Car Theft Gang, which has attracted thousands of comments from fascinated and concerned car owners since it was posted.

In the video, Mark investigates the theft of a £40,000 BMW M440i which was stolen from a driveway in Stoke after thieves broke into the owner’s house by breaching the key box fitted outside.

He travels to Tunstall to speak directly to balaclava-clad members of one of the UK’s most notorious organised car crime gangs about the vehicles and properties they tend to target.

The thieves describe how they look for key boxes they can easily force open – as opposed to more secure key safes – to access a victim’s front door keys and, ultimately, the keys to their car.

Using doctored voices to conceal their identity, the thieves reveal how intelligence is shared among the gang that leads them to homes that have weak key boxes fitted and a vehicle parked outside.

“Why that car, why a 440i?” Mark asks the thieves. “Because it’s got an M badge on,” one of the gang replies.

“How did you know that car was there because that street is a dead end?” Mark asks. “Because you get a drop on things, innit,” the gang member replies.

“What, somebody had said something?” Mark adds. “Yeah, yeah, yeah,” the thief says. “It’s got a key box and it’s got an M badge.”

Mark continues: “So you knew it had a key box outside and that was like an easy way in the house?” “Yeah,” the criminal replies, “the key to the house is in that box.”

Asked whether a lot of homeowners have key boxes, the gang member says: “Yeah, there’s two on that house down there. I’ve just seen it then in the car. It’s not hard finding.

“If you drive around a road looking left and right you’ll find one. You’ll need a flat head (screwdriver) for a key box and a house brick.”

Finally, Mark asks: “Is a key box the secret? Is that the easy route?” The gang member replies: “Yeah, it’s just the easiest way, innit.”

Relay or keyless theft is where thieves use a device to trick a car into thinking its own remote key fob is close by, thus unlocking the car and allowing the ignition to be started.

Many criminals still want the physical car keys, for various reasons. Not only is copying a key more effort for thieves, meaning they are at more risk, it can also be costly with the tool/transmitter needed costing in the region of £7,000.

A physical key allows a quicker turnaround, enables thieves to stop and start a stolen car – an option that isn’t available in keyless theft – and allows criminals to fetch more money for a stolen motor.

The thieves’ startling admission leads Mark to conduct his own mini-investigation into key boxes, their merits as a storage device for keys at the point of need and how they compare to more secure key safes.

Using a screwdriver, Mark is able to break into the same key box that the BMW owner had fitted to his house in just two seconds.

“That is just scary,” he says. “Within seconds, and with hardly any noise, the thieves now have full access to your homes.”

Mark then attempts to break into an ark Tamo Pro key safe, designed, manufactured and sold by Worcester-based The Key Safe Company.

After a sustained attempt to force it open using a screwdriver, a brick, a lump hammer and even a mini circular saw, the key safe is unmoved and remains locked tight.

“The Tamo Pro is actually a police preferred key safe,” Mark says, “which means it’s as safe and secure as your actual front door. So, if you are going to buy a key safe, make sure it has this (Secured By Design official police security initiative) logo.

“As we’ve seen, it’s not easy to get in or off the wall. As you can see, we’ve made a lot of noise and we’ve taken a lot of time and my keys are still in there.

“They have four police preferred key safes so if you are going to install your keys outside, make sure they are secure.”

In the past few days Staffordshire Police have warned people about the dangers of key box’s due to recent car thefts. ( https://www.staffordshire.police.uk/news/staffordshire/news/2026/february/warning-as-thieves-break-into-key-safes/ )

Mark’s YouTube channel can be found at www.youtube.com/@MarkMcCann64

For more information about The Key Safe Company and its products, visit www.keysafe.co.uk