Three Newport men who stole more than 200 metres of cable from the railway, resulting in almost 19 hours of delays, have been jailed for a total of eight years.
Robert Thomas Andrews, aged 21, of Allt-yr-Yn; Nicholas Andrew Gales, aged 28, of Conniston Close, Old Barn Estate; and Jack Michael Brimble, aged 21, of Crescent Road, were all sentenced at Cardiff Crown Court after a British Transport Police (BTP) investigation.
The court heard that at 3.19am on Friday, 22 June 2012, BTP received a report of major signalling failure in the Llanwern area of Newport, on the mainline from Swansea to London.
Officers attended and found a white transit van parked near an access point. Two men were seen running from the van, across a field, but despite a co-ordinated search of the area, officers were unable to trace them.
After returning to the scene, officers discovered a 100-metre length of cable on a grass verge next to the railway. A further 104 metres of cable was recovered from inside the transit van, where officers also found a man – later identified as Gales – locked inside.
Gales was arrested on suspicion of theft and a short time later, Brimble was also arrested after being detained by officers from Gwent Police who were on patrol in the area.
Various items were seized from the scene, including tools, mobile phones and a vehicle rental agreement for the van in the name of Robert Andrews. Text messages downloaded from the phones – which belonged to Gales and Brimble – revealed a conversation about making “big money for ten minutes’ work”.
A drinks bottle and an empty sandwich wrapper were also tested and a fingerprint match was found to Andrews.
The total cost to Network Rail associated with the theft was £34,025 – £11,930 to replace the cable and £22,095 in costs associated with the delays to trains. Services were delayed for a total of 1,128 minutes.
In interview, Andrews admitted to hiring the transit van, which he claimed was to help Gales clear rubble from his garden. He told officer he’d travelled to the area of the theft to shoot rabbits and pheasants when he discovered the cable abandoned in the road. He claimed he’d left the van and walked home in order to avoid police because he was carrying an air rifle.
All three men were sentenced at Cardiff Crown Court on Friday, 10 May, after pleading guilty at an earlier hearing to theft of cable. Andrews was sentenced to 3 years 9 months imprisonment, while Brimble and Gales were each given 26-month sentences.
Detective Constable Chris Bolton, part of the investigating team from BTP Cardiff, said after the case: “I hope the sentence handed down serves as a stark warning to others seeking to profit from stealing from the railway.
“Stealing railway cable is incredibly dangerous, and anyone seeking to do so risks serious injury – or even death – through electrocution.
“The perception that these thefts are victimless crimes could not be further from the truth. The cost implication alone is astronomical, but this theft also had an enormous impact on the travelling public, with trains cancelled or delayed.
“This was a calculated and selfish attack on the rail infrastructure. As a result of their greed, the main London to Swansea line suffered a total loss of signalling in the area for nine hours, which had a crippling effect on the morning commuter period.
“BTP, Network Rail and the criminal justice system takes a dim view of this type of activity and simply will not tolerate any behaviour which threatens the infrastructure of the country.
“Individuals who commit these offences undermine the very fabric of our society by attacking the rail infrastructure without any concern whatsoever for the day-to-day wellbeing of law-abiding taxpayers.
“I hope sentences such as this will continue to serve as a stark warning to others seeking to profit from stealing from the railway.”
Meanmwhile, thieves who attempted to steal cable from a railway viaduct in Skelton left thousands of homes in the area without power for over half an hour. BTP and Northern Powergrid are now appealing for information after the attempted theft at Saltburn viaduct, which they believe took place at around 11.30pm on Sunday, May 12.
Detective Inspector Stuart Mellish, who heads BTP’s dedicated cable team, is appealing for the public who may have seen any suspicious activity in the area to contact police.
DI Mellish said: “Thieves not only risked their lives by using a wooden stake to attempt to pry 11,000 volt cable off Saltburn viaduct, but they also caused the power to circuit and plunged thousands of houses in the area into darkness.
“The wooden stake used was fried by the electricity from the cable which then short circuited and could have quite easily burnt anyone with a four foot radius. Those responsible for this attempted theft could have been badly injured and are luckily they weren’t killed.
“We are following a number of leads but, at this stage, I am appealing for members of the public to come forward with any information which may assist the investigation and help us prevent these crimes taking place in their neighbourhoods.
“The theft of cable is not just an attack on the railway – it has a direct impact on the day-to-day lives of thousands of passengers, in this case who had their electricity cut off in the evening.
“BTP have a dedicated team of officers working throughout the area to tackle this type of crime, which has resulted in significant reductions in levels of offending. We are also catching and prosecuting more cable thieves than ever before. However, this crime still poses a serious threat to the railway infrastructure and we will not become complacent. We will continue to take action and focus our resources to drive this type of crime down even further.”
Nigel Walker, Northern Powergrid’s Vulnerable Assets Manager said: “The extent of the damage is considerable and it could end up costing hundreds of thousands of pounds to repair the power cable. This is a cable carrying 11,000 volts of electricity, so should never be tampered with, and it’s extremely fortunate no-one died. The explosion they caused using a wooden poll to try and pry it off the viaduct wall will have been visible from some distance away and most likely caused injury, such as flash marks to the face and hands. There’s also the inconvenience they caused for people living locally when they cut the power, leaving our customers with no electricity until our engineers were able to restore supplies.”
