Wakefield rail cable thief caused commuter chaos and left £68,000 bill
A thief who stole cable from railway lines to sell for scrap caused hours of commuter chaos at a cost of nearly £68,000.
Andrew Holland stripped 50 metres of the copper cable near Wakefield which led to 20 trains being cancelled before the power could be restored.
He was jailed at Leeds Crown Court after admitting the theft.
Shortly before 8.30pm on May 19 last year, a loss of signal affected several lines, prosecutor Emily Jenkins told the court.
It was traced to Oakenshaw junction at Heath, on the outskirts of Wakefield.
British Transport Police were contacted and officers attended the site, where they saw Holland in Woodland near the railway lines.
He was stood next to a fire in which he was attempting to burn the cabling down to leave the copper, which he would then weigh in.
The 38-year-old was found to have a Stanley knife on him and a blow torch was nearby.
Arrested, he later admitted during his interview that he was with two other men and was looking for cable not in use.
The court heard that the cable was worth £4,554, labour costs to replace the line came to £5,390 and the loss of services came to £57,995.
Holland, of Denmark Street, Wakefield, has 38 previous convictions for 52 offences, including burglary and theft.
Mitigating, Stephen Smithson conceded there was planning in Holland’s theft, but said he had stayed out of trouble since.
He said it was possible to suspend any sentence.
But Judge Tahir Khan KC said Holland’s offending was made worse by his previous offences for theft.
He jailed him for 20 months.