TWO serial thieves who embarked on a “professional piece of criminality” to steal thousands of pounds worth of fuel from businesses across the country have been jailed.

Duo Darren Wain and Mark McWilliams travelled across the south, using their tried and tested method to steal fuel cards from lorries and using them to buy almost £18,000 worth of diesel.

Despite having already been jailed for similar crimes, the pair from Southampton persisted to target businesses for the cards which were used to fill large drums full of fuel.

Southampton Crown Court heard how “experienced conspirators” Wain, 40 and McWilliams, 33, were caught red handed by officers, who stopped their vehicles to discover containers full of diesel in November last year.

Prosecutor Siobhan Linsley told the court how further investigations by officers, using CCTV, automatic registration plate technology and the mobile phones of the pair, linked both men to thefts at four different sites.

Miss Linsley explained the first took place late September last year, when they duo broke into two lorry cabs at Southampton Container Logistics, taking two fuel cards.

One of those cards was used to buy 4,953ltrs of diesel at a value of approximately £6,000.

They next targeted Eling Construction, just outside Totton, in October, breaking into an articulated lorry to steal a laptop and fuel card, which was later used to buy £4,300 worth of diesel.

Veolia, in Portsmouth was their next target in November, where they broke into a secure compound and stole a fuel card that was used over the following three days to buy 3,022ltrs of diesel, worth £3,354.

Just days later, they drove to Bristol where they stole a fuel card from a Biffa lorry and used it to buy £4,000 worth of diesel.

When they were arrested two days later on November 10, it is believed the fuel in the containers found in their vehicles was paid for by this latest stolen card.

Both men pleaded guilty to conspiracy to steal and conspiracy to commit fraud.

In mitigation for McWilliams, Peter Asteris told the court that his client had turned to crime to pay for his cocaine habit but that since his arrest he had turned his life around.

The court also heard that McWilliams, of Ashby Close, Swaythling, had been handed a suspended sentence for a similar crime just three months before the pair embarked on their latest spree.

Defending Wain, of Saltmead, St Deny’s, Adam Feest said that his client had also made significant changes in his life.

Sentencing both men to 28 months in prison, Judge Henry said: “This was on any basis professional stealing. There was a considerable degree of planning that went into this.

“You knew precisely how to do it and you executed it with efficiency.”