Hertfordshire Police Authority and BT have jointly offered a reward of £5,000 for information that leads to the conviction of the person or persons responsible for the attempted theft of cable from the BT infrastructure in Hatfield on Thursday evening, February 9. The damage caused to cabling led to disruption of the phone and data systems for most of the south of the county. Although back-up systems for the police came into action immediately, many other places, such as local hospitals, were left without vital communications systems, putting lives at risk. Loss of residential phone lines meant that many vulnerable people that rely on personal alarm and alert systems were also put at risk.
Police are pursuing a number of lines of investigation – but say they are keen to hear from anyone who may have any information regarding this act. Anyone with information can ring the police non-emergency number 101.
David Lloyd, the Chairman of Hertfordshire Police Authority said: “I have been very impressed by the way the Constabulary and BT have worked together to respond rapidly and effectively to manage this incident, which has caused significant disruption across the county.
“We have taken this exceptional step of offering a reward to highlight that this is a very serious crime. Whilst the value of the scrap metal may be low the impact on residents and businesses is enormous. Criminals who believe that they can get away with this type of crime need to know that we will make every effort to bring them to justice. I urge anyone with information about this crime to bring it to the police to help stop this despicable crime being repeated across the county.
“I hope that when the person is brought to justice that they receive a lengthy custodial sentence that reflects the impact of this crime. As it is only through fear of being caught and strong sentences that we can hope to curb this modern day scourge on our society.”
Luke Beeson from BT said “We have suffered cuts to underground cabling in an apparent cable theft which has affected some services in the area. Engineers have been on-site and urgently working in very difficult conditions to assess the damage and to start to work on repairs.
“We are doing all we can to get this work completed to start to restore service as quickly as we possibly can.
“This incident is yet another example of the societal impact of metal theft. Working in close partnership with local police forces across the country including Hertfordshire we have seen a significant increase in the number of people arrested for stealing our cable and we would strongly encourage anybody who saw any suspicious activity in or around our network to report it.”
