Metal Thieves Jailed: police foil planned attack in Cumbria

I make no apology for returning to the subject of metal theft and reporting the prison sentences passed on another gang of cable thieves. In order to come as close as we can to eradicating the scourge of modern society which metal theft represents, the more we can do both the catch and convict the thieves but also to publicise their sentences, the better. If potential thieves know that attempting to steal metal is more likely to earn them a jail sentence than a profit, they are less likely to try it.

 

A gang of seven metal thieves responsible for a £140,000 cable theft conspiracy have been sentenced to a total of almost 13 years imprisonment. They were caught while planning an attack in Cumbria.

 

​The seven criminals were arrested after police linked them to a break-in at a BT depot in Gateshead, where they stole eight drums of heavy copper cable worth £20,000.

 

Between February and June 2013, the gang members, mostly from St Helens, Merseyside, dressed as workmen and used vans and cutting equipment to target a total of 20 depots (most but not all run by BT) where metal cable was stored.

 

At the time of their arrest the thieves had been targeting other premises, including Darlington and Carlisle.

 

Tim Gittins, prosecuting, told Newcastle Crown Court:

 

“The case follows a police investigation into the professional targeting of depots, particularly BT depots across England, from the Midlands to the North and into the Borders and Scotland, as far north as Perth, by a team travelling from Merseyside."

 

"Their aim was to steal large drums of metal cable that was readily capable of being sold to scrap metal dealers.”

 

The seven accused – David Price, Christopher Lee, Lee Sheeran, Daniel Chadwick, Michael Chadwick, James Price and Trevor Smith – pleaded guilty to conspiracy to steal and theft. They were all sentenced to terms of imprisonment, ranging from 14 months to 34 months.

 

Passing sentence, judge Brian Forster said: “It is clear from the information that I have read for some of you this type of offending was your daily work.”

 

They will have plenty of spare time over the next year or so as guests of Her Majesty a new line of daily work. It might even be that the same ingenuity and effort that they put into stealing might earn more money through honest work than they obtained through theft.