AN Essex farm has found itself at the centre of an alleged car theft epidemic after being linked to an international car smuggling ring.
Baldwins Farm in South Essex has recently been exposed in a Channel 4 documentary for allegedly being a hotbed of organised crime.
However, according to the MailOnline, this is far from the first time that the farm has been accused of illegal activity.
Channel 4’s recent Dispatches instalment featured Baldwins Farm, and began with an Audi A4 that was stolen from a driveway in North London on March 15th.
Unbeknown to the thieves, the car leasing company had previously fitted the vehicle with a hidden tracker.
The tracker showed the Audi’s journey from London to a patch of woodland in Baldwins farm, which is tucked away in an area of green belt just inside the M25.
Possible GPS jamming or blocking equipment was thought to have prevented the tracker from working at the farm, however, five weeks later, it reappeared in Kaunas, Lithuania.
Dispatches then tracked it to a business in the outskirts of the city called Baltic Car Trade.
The documentary showed police as they raided the property, but all that was left was a bunch of wires – the car has been torn apart, like many others that are stolen off of British streets.
Organised gangs of criminals steal thousands of cars each year to then ship abroad as parts destined for scrap yards in the Middle East and Africa.
The Dispatches investigation also revealed that at least two other stolen cars with trackers had ended up at Baldwins farm, in a part of the farm nicknamed “Lithuanian end.”
However, this allegedly isn’t the first time the site has come under fire.
In 2020, Essex Police conducted a raid that recovered three Range Rovers and a Land Rover discovery.
Some of the vehicles were already in the process of being broken down for parts.
Dispatches identified Martin Clark as the director of the company that owns the lease to the part of Baldwins that the car was found on.
Clark was jailed in 2007 for six years for his part in a £4million car theft ring.
After being tracked down to a large house in Essex with several parked luxury cars on the drive, Clark told journalist, Matt Shea, to “F*** off.”
Former police officer, Neil Thomas, told the MailOnline that he wouldn’t be surprised if Baldwins Farm had been used to store stolen vehicles.
Thomas, who now works for a private track and recovery service for stolen cars, said: “The access in and out is quite restricted, it’s quite close to London, quite close to the docks, so if you are exporting vehicles it’s a really good location.”
According to the MailOnline, who visited the farm last week, there is only one road in and out in the form of a dusty track, and the whole site is brimming with CCTV cameras.
Drone images of the farm show rows of parked vehicles and shipping containers, as well as piles of scrap metal.
There are plenty of legitimate businesses renting units at the farm, including window companies, car repairers and a cement business run by the Bromley family.
However, the MailOnline claims that the site has also long attracted criminal clientele.
Like many semi-rural parts of Essex, the area saw an influx of criminals from the East End during the 1970s and 1980s.
Gangsters found it useful due to it being relatively isolated while still being close to London.
The current Channel 4 investigation focuses on allegations of stolen cars tied to an international smuggling ring.
The family who now run the site, insist that any criminality is a thing of the past.
Jake Bromley, 29, told the MailOnline: “That stolen Audi has nothing to do with us and we have nothing to do with the land where the Lithuanians are.”
In reference to Martin Clark, who Dispatches reported as holding the lease to the land that the vehicle was tracked to, he said that he simply rents the land to the businessman and will review the contract when it ends in 2026.
Jake explained that himself and his sister, Lily Tiger, 25, are keen to make an honest living and are fearful of this negative publicity.
The pair were made directors of the new company Baldwins Farm Limited in February this year.
