Engineers set up fake job to steal cables in Bridgnorth
Two telecom engineers hired a mini-digger and an official-looking van, set out cones and warning lights and proceeded to illegally dig up 2,000 metres of cable to sell for scrap, a court was told.
But despite their van carrying a Carillion telent logo and their knowledge of the network, Steven Moseley and Stuart Dixon aroused enough suspicion for a Bridgnorth resident to call the police as they worked on Hermitage Hill in the small hours of September 14.
Mr Robert James Edwards, prosecuting at Shrewsbury Crown Court, said that the pair had shown identity cards and told a police officer who attended the scene that they worked for the contractor KPR and were carrying out the works on behalf of British Telecom.
When the officer rang KPR he was told the firm did do work for BT and it was common for it to be carried out at night. The operator said the company would investigate the work.
Mr Edwards said that, although the officer still found the situation unsatisfactory, he left the two men to continue, but police were later informed that no works were scheduled in Bridgnorth at that time. Dixon and Moseley were arrested the following day and admitted the offence when questioned by police.
A BT investigation subsequently found that 2,250m of cable with a value of £11,880 had gone missing from two sites in Bridgnorth.
The court was told that the cable was not part of the live network and was likely to have been removed and scrapped by the company.
Both men had previously pleaded guilty to one charge of theft at a previous hearing.
Recorder Nigel Daly said normally in such cases the court would take into account the disruption caused to companies and customers. However, no residents had been inconvenienced.
The pair were each given a 12-month community order with 120 hours of unpaid work, and a two-month curfew from 8pm until 6am.
Mr Edwards said Moseley, aged 41, of Beatrice Drive, Banbury, had told police he had been employed on sub-contracts but his pay had been reduced and he hatched the scheme to revisit old jobs and sell the cable for scrap to make ends meet.
Mr Nicholas Wadsworth, for Moseley, said the offence was "a one-off" and that both men were "equally to blame".
Dixon, 52, from St Anne's Road, Banbury, who was not represented, said he deeply regretted involving Moseley in the scheme which had been his idea.
Recorder Daly told Moseley to pay £1,000 compensation and told Dixon, who is unemployed, that if he came into work he could help Moseley to pay it back as he had "got him into it".
