Four members of a multi-million pound "car-ringing" gang who stole dozens of luxury vehicles have been jailed.
During their crime spree, they stole keys or obtained copies from overseas dealers. Tara Palmer-Tomkinson's £50,000 BMW was among the cars stolen.
Imran Ganchi, 29, from Ilford, east London, was jailed for six years for car theft and money laundering.
Accomplice Yusef Kaduji was jailed for two years, Hameed Nawaz for three years and Shazad Hussain for four years.
'New identities'
During their "highly sophisticated" crime spree they toured the capital with a shopping list of top-of-the-range models, London's Southwark Crown Court heard.
Once stolen the cars, worth up to £350,000 each, were then driven away, given new identities by a "master forger" and then exported.
Most ended up in Maastricht in the Netherlands and Antwerp in Belgium, before being delivered to the United Arab Emirates, although a few went to Singapore and South Africa.
Ganchi and Kaduji, 21, from Forest Gate, east London, forger Nawaz, 31, from Luton, Bedfordshire, and Hussain, 31, from Moseley, Birmingham, admitted conspiracies involving car thefts and money laundering between 2003 and 2007.
A fifth gang member, Shakeel Shoukat, 21, from Forest Gate, was given a 12 month sentence suspended for two years.
Socialite Ms Palmer-Tomkinson's BMW 645 convertible was targeted by the gang after being spotted outside her London home.
Before it was taken its details were recorded on a mobile phone, and a forged car logbook and bogus passport were used to get a "replacement" key from a Stuttgart outlet.
The car was later found at Birmingham airport. Some of Ms Palmer-Tomkinson's personal possessions - including correspondence and a jeweller's receipt - were subsequently found on the coffee table of gang leader Ganchi.
"The stakes were high and you knew it"
The BMW was one of just six cars recovered from the 34 stolen by the gang during its three-and-a-half year crime spree.
Others included dozens of Porsches, Mercedes, Range Rovers, Toyota Land Cruisers and a £350,000 SLR McLaren supercar.
Passing sentence, Judge Peter Testar said the criminal operation owed much of its success to "forgeries of a very high quality".
He added: "An example of how meticulously these cars were given false identities is that when number plates were manufactured that was done complete with the manufacturer's logo."
The judge said gang leader Ganchi "chose the path of rich pickings from dishonesty".
"The stakes were high and you knew it," he added.
Case officer Det Con Ian Slaney welcomed the sentences and said officers were now trying to trace the huge profits made by the gang.
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