Brothers jailed for stealing £80,000 worth of copper

5:29pm Friday 16th May 2008

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TWO unemployed brothers were jailed today for their part in the theft of £80,000 worth of copper cabling from the railway, transport police said.

Karl and Stuart O'Dell were sentenced in Winchester Crown Court to offences in Hampshire and Dorset of theft, attempted theft and handling stolen goods.

Karl O'Dell, 33, of Kendal Avenue, Millbrook, Southampton, pleaded guilty to three counts of theft and one attempt theft and had four further offences taken into consideration at an earlier hearing. He was sentenced today to two and half years today.

His brother Stuart O'Dell, 29, of Windermere Avenue, Millbrook, Southampton, also pleaded guilty to three counts of handling stolen goods and was sentenced to two years in jail.

The offences related to the theft of cable between January and July 2007.

British Transport Police spokesman Detective Sergeant Sarah White said the brothers had been prolific during that time, taking cable from railway sidings and sub-stations and then selling it to local scrap yard dealers.

The pair were caught after covert cameras captured the men stealing cable from sub-stations at Branksome and Barton stations and transporting it to a scrap metal dealer based in Hampshire.

Det Sgt White said thieves are targeting the material as its price soars.

''On the rail system, theft of cable is a particular problem and is extremely dangerous to those involved. It can cause hours of delay to the thousands of passengers who rely on the rail network. Those who steal cable are not just risking a prison sentence, they are risking their lives, the policewoman said.

Figures from BTP found that metal thefts are up nationally by at least 150 per cent with an estimated cost of metal theft to UK industry at £360m a year.