Cable thief 'used trains as a knife to cut up his spoils'

[John Ashworth]

Cable thief 'used trains as a knife to cut up his spoils'

By Fred Attewill - 25th September, 2012 Metro

A thief stole 800m (2,600ft) of cable from a railway line and laid it across the tracks so trains would cut it for him, a court heard.

Kevin Skelton was jailed for a year for his role in a gang that took 267kg of the metal from the East Coast main line over five successive nights.

Skelton, 21, was caught after giving his real name but a false address when selling the strips at a scrapyard.

The cable was redundant but had been chopped into manageable 4m strips by trains passing over it, the court heard.

‘It sold for £1,068 but the overall cost was estimated at £4,748 through accrued losses and the potential repair bill for line operator Network Rail,’ said Steven Orange, for the prosecution.

Paul Cross, for the defence, said the cable was redundant rather than live and so its theft caused little disruption.

Skelton, of Chester-le-Street, Co Durham, admitted theft near the town between July 10 and 15 during the hearing at Durham crown court.