THREE would-be thieves were jailed after police caught them returning to a location near Pinner station where cable had previously been cut.
Iulian Baston, 23 of Ilford Lane, Ilford, Constantin Levarda, 25, of Brent Park Road, Brent Cross and Ioan Fartaes, 34, of Morley Avenue, Wood Green, were each sentenced to 15 months in jail at Harrow Crown Court last Wednesday, after being convicted at a trial in October of going equipped to steal.
British Transport Police received a report from contractors that lengths of railway cable had been cut and hidden in undergrowth near to the line-side in Pinner on the morning of Wednesday, January 12, the court heard.
Officers in plain clothes observed the location that night and saw the three men approach at about 10pm.
The men could provide no explanation for the hacksaw, metal cutters and heavy-duty gloves found in their vehicle.
Sergeant Mike Hender said after the case: “We arrested the men after they couldn’t provide us with a satisfactory explanation of what they were doing near to the rail line at that time of night. They also couldn’t explain the hacksaw and cutting tools found in their car.
“Crime which involves the theft of railway cable attracts strong penalties and I hope the jail sentences handed to these three men will act as a deterrent to others.”
Judge Holt told the three men: “It has only just been widely publicised that 1,969 trains were cancelled in the last six months alone as a result of cable theft. In my view the only sentence that I can pass is one of immediate custody to deter others.”
