Jailed: Whitchurch man, 37, stole mini digger from quarry

Christopher Jackson was caught thanks partly to a quirk of fate and partly due to the quick thinking of Gary Hilditch, an off-duty machine operator, who followed Jackson as he made off with the digger on a back of a trailer.

Jackson, 37, of of Manor Place, Whitchurch, had broken into Criggion Quarry, owned by Hanson Aggregates, between Welshpool and Llanymynech.

Mr Hilditch was at the Admiral Rodney public house in Criggion on December 31, went out for a cigarette, and happened to see the vehicle passing.

He immediately recognised the trailer and digger from the quarry, alerted his employers, and then jumped into his vehicle and followed it as it drove towards Shrewsbury.

Police contacted him and he was able to tell officers where he was and he continued to follow the vehicle until police took over.

At one stage he had to pull back when a piece of concrete jettisoned from the vehicle, alarming other road users.

As police followed the vehicle it suddenly braked heavily, turned left, crashed through a gate into a field, but became bogged down in wet conditions.

Jackson ran off but was quickly caught and arrested in the nearby vegetation.

Checks at the quarry revealed that a burglary had taken place and about £1,000 worth of damage had been caused.

Jackson, who had 38 previous convictions, made no comment in interview.

Mr Whitty said that in June 2014 the defendant had received a two year sentence at Chester Crown Court for a number of thefts of agricultural and other vehicles.

He was on licence at the time of the latest offences.

Jackson admitted burglary, aggravated vehicle taking and driving without insurance.

Brendon Reedy, defending art Mold Crown Court yesterday, said that his client deserved full credit for his guilty pleas at the magistrates' court.

He had been committed for sentence to the crown court but had clearly not acted alone, Mr Reedy said.

Jailing him for 20 months – with a 12 month driving ban to start on his release from prison – the judge said that the defendant had fortunately been spotted by an employee of the quarry as he drove off with the stolen property and that led to his apprehension.

Mr Recorder Timothy Petts said that the defendant had a long history of previous offending and it was an aggravating feature that he was on prison licence when he committed the latest offence at the remote quarry which was closed for the Christmas and New Year break.