Whilst out for an early morning jog, forty year old, Philip Leon Gallagher, saw an opportunity to make some easy money.
Gallagher had been off work since last November and the temptation to sell-on the copper cable he saw in the bushes was too strong.
Forty-year-old Gallagher, of Orchard Street, Nuneaton, appeared at the nearby Warwickshire Justice Centre on 12 May and admitted stealing Network Rail cable, valued at £516, at Nuneaton on February 23.
Steve Parish, Prosecutor, said police received information around 7am that two men and a woman were loading cable into a Chrysler vehicle, registered to Gallagher. The 100 metres of cable found in the vehicle could be identified as belonging to Network Rail as it had been marked With SmartWater and linked the cable to an area by the railway.
The prosecutor stressed that Gallagher had not gone into troughs beside the tracks to remove it, he had only found it. “Thefts of this nature are a particular problem, especially in the area of Nuneaton,” he added.
He said cable thefts not only affected the economy but also led to freight trains and passengers being delayed - and taxpayers footing the bill for a “considerable amount of time and money” spent on replacing cable.
In court, Gallagher said that during his interview with the police, he told them that if he found more copper whilst jogging he would “take it to Network Rail”.
He said he saw the copper cable in bushes and thought it would be “easy money” to help him out.
Gallagher, who had not been in trouble since “a dishonesty-type matter in 2004”, said when police came to his house he told them where his car was.
“If I was informed it was such a big problem in this area I would have taken it down to Network Rail straight away,” said Gallagher.
Gallagher was sentenced to a 12-month community order, with 12 months supervision and programmes to improve his thinking and victim awareness skills. He was told to pay £85 costs.