A man who was employed to help prevent the theft of railway cable has been sentenced for stealing just that.
More than £340,000 is estimated to have been stolen during the raids on the Berks and Hants railway line. Although the line is outside of Wokingham borough, had the thefts continued it could have affected rail services across the region.
Paul Jones – a construction manager at Siemens Rail Automation, working on a £25 million re-signalling project on the Berks & Hants railway line – was found guilty of abusing his position to identify where the most valuable cable could be stolen.
And he managed to get unwitting staff to help him move the cable.
Merthyr Crown Court in Wales heard that he used one of the project’s flatbed trucks to drive stolen cable along the M4 to the Merthyr Metal Recycling scrap metal dealers, where owner Darren Jones was able to use his position to remove identity markings from the cable before selling it on.
Between April 1 and July 17, 2015, the pair stole almost 8.5 tonnes of cable which was then sold on for a total of £17,110.
However, the plan began unravelling when Paul Jones was issued with a fixed penalty notice for driving a truck with an overweight load at junction 15 of the M4. This raised suspicions as to why the truck, which was hired specifically to transport cable between Ufton Nervet and Newbury, was being used so far west, particularly as Jones had a company car – a BMW 1 Series – for commuting to and from work.
A special investigation was launched, dubbed Operation Leek, over three months.
It looked into the theft of railway cable in the Theale and Thatcham areas of Berkshire, and led to the arrests of the men during a series of dawn raids in and around Merthyr Tydfil.
Appearing at Merthyr Crown Court on Friday, June 24, after pleading guilty at an earlier hearing to theft of railway cable, both men were sentenced to 16 months’ imprisonment, suspended for 12 months.
Paul Jones, aged 37, of Ael-y-Bryn, Fochriw, was also ordered to carry out 240 hours of unpaid work on behalf of the community, while 49-year-old Darren Jones, of High Street, Dowlais, was placed on curfew for four months.
Investigating officer DC Dan Murdoch said: “This was a calculated, pre-planned joint conspiracy, where both men were equally reliant upon each other – one person could not have stolen and disposed of the cable without the other’s help. Paul Jones breached his position of trust to steal large quantities of railway cable, while Darren Jones assisted in the handling and sale of the stolen items.
“Paul Jones was a supervisor, employed by Siemens in a senior role specifically to oversee the recovery of redundant cable as part of the Berks & Hants re-signalling project.
“Part of his job was to oversee staff and help prevent the theft of railway cable.
“Not only did he abuse his position to steal the cable he was being paid to protect, but he also encouraged workers under his supervision to assist with the thefts by using them to transport bags of stolen cable from Newbury to Merthyr Metals.
“This case is as much about the reputational damage, costs and delays accrued to the re-signalling project as it is the value of the stolen goods.
“The ramifications are so serious that Siemens – who estimated a total cost to the business of £340,000 as a result of the thefts – stated that a smaller company may not have survived.
“Network Rail has a national supply chain to recycle or sell cable to fund future projects; therefore, these thefts have had a direct impact on passengers who often have to foot the bill when thieves strike.
“Each year, the actions of thieves result in countless delays and cancellations, along with huge associated compensation costs. We will continue to work with our industry partners to combat cable theft and will not stop in our pursuit of those that seek to profit from stealing from the railway.”
