Cable guys’ crime spree cost £100K

Jul 26 2009 by Garry Willey, Sunday Sun

SLICK thieves stole almost five miles of underground telecom line after an expert “insider” masterminded a wave of cable crimes.

The copper running through the cables had become a high-value target after scrap prices soared.

And a Gateshead-based gang began hitting otherwise unknown BT sites, singled out by someone using knowledge from within the communications industry.

When police smashed the four-month-long spree last summer, they were stunned by the scale of one strike in Northumberland during early June.

Witnesses outside Stobhill Working Men’s Club, near Morpeth had seen men at a manhole taking out cable, cutting it with a still saw and loading it on to a transit.

A partial registration number led officers to some of the crooks, Newcastle Crown Court heard.

And checks of the site uncovered the full extent of the theft.

“An inspection by a BT security manager revealed 4.8 miles of cable between Morpeth and Cramlington had been removed,” said James Adkin, prosecuting.

“That weighed just over 17 tonnes. It is apparent the site had been repeatedly targeted.”

Luckily no homes or businesses were affected thanks to an automatic back-up system, the court was told. But the cost of replacing the live cable was estimated at almost £100,000, Mr Adkin said.

Gordon Sewell, 42, of Bedale Court, in Harlow Green, Gateshead, and Jason Bain, 38, of Helvellyn Close, Blaydon, also Gateshead – both employed by a local telecommunications company – admitted theft.

Bain’s brother Thomas Bain, 45, of Westfield, Gateshead, pleaded guilty to helping dispose of some of the stolen hauls.

By the time they were caught, more than 27 tonnes of cable – including some redundant line – had been taken.