Inside the lair of prolific thief who stole luxury cars while on curfew

A prolific thief has been jailed after stealing £350,000 of luxury cars, all while wearing an electronic tag.

31-year-old Damon Keegan of Woodland View, Hyde, was under a 7pm-7am curfew during the 12-month spree in which he pleaded guilty to stealing eight vehicles. 

When arrested in November 2023, he was found with a radio frequency jammer, which can be used to block Wi-Fi and mobile phone signals. 

Police also discovered a lock-up close to Keegan’s home containing a burglary kit.

This included lock picking sets, blank car keys, a spy camera, a sledgehammer, a blow torch, replacement footwear, clothing, an axe, and several Apple Air Tags. 

Keegan was sentenced to six years and eleven months at Manchester Crown Court on Friday September 27 for seven counts of burglary, conspiracy to burgle, one attempted burglary, eight thefts of motor vehicles, dangerous driving, going equipped to steal and three instances of handling stolen goods. 

The thefts took place across Greater Manchester, Cheshire and Glossop, all of which Greater Manchester Police (GMP) said were “intrusive and left victims feeling uneasy in their own homes”. 

A statement from Detective Constable Holden from GMP’s Serious Organised Crime Group said, “Keegan was a prolific burglar with a string of similar past convictions, who, over the space of twelve months stole over £300,000 worth of luxury cars. His methods were intrusive and ruinous, often breaking into people’s houses whilst they slept, leaving them unable to get to work or take their children to school when they woke up to see their cars gone and homes tampered with.  

“This was an extensive investigation which crossed borders and involved collaboration with neighbouring forces to link Keegan’s crimes and ensure he faced consequences for all his offending. His crimes had significant financial and emotional impacts on our victims, and I hope this demonstrates that regardless of the steps you may take to conceal your offending, we will exhaust every line of enquiry to ensure you are put behind bars. 

“Ultimately, the cases brought by the team in this investigation were so overwhelming, Keegan had no option but to plead guilty.” 

Originally from Gorton, Keegan was sentenced to 50 months in a young offenders’ institute in 2011 for a similar spree where he targeted high-end cars. He was caught when an accomplice posted pictures on Facebook of the pair posing with vehicles they had stolen. 

Keegan was again sentenced in 2017 to three years and four months in prison after flying drones laden with drugs and USBs with TV boxsets on them into HMP Manchester.