Luke Able, 26, and his friend Samuel Pelham drove a white van on to a freight line running parallel to the A63 to steal metal.D’oh!
However, the pair got the van stuck on the track and were spotted using a scaffolding pole to try to lever the vehicle free.
Police raced to the railway track and caught the pair red-handed.
Judge Jeremy Richardson QC, sitting at Hull Crown Court, said: "It was a very foolish thing to have done.So, you’re going to throw the book at them?
"Those who take vehicles unlawfully on to the track pose a danger to the railway users and train drivers.
"The railway company had to spend a lot of time and money removing the van and checking the lines were safe."
And ignore the ‘mitigation’ proffered by their defence?
Able, of Millport Drive, west Hull, pleaded guilty to obstructing a railway line on January 28 last year.So much for being ‘available for work’ then!
His barrister Patrizia Doherty said: "He had lost his job at a food factory and had to succumb to benefits and on that particular day was out looking for scrap."
Judge Richardson QC sentenced Able to a six-month prison sentence, suspended for two years, and ordered him to carry out 40 hours of unpaid work.*sigh*
Hey, what about his mate?
There is a warrant out for Pelham's arrest after he joined a three-month fishing voyage instead of attending court to be sentenced./headdesk
6 comments:
had to succumb to benefits
He had to succumb to benefits. I'm surprised the defence didn't argue he had to succumb to crime! The poor boy, he's just a victim.
"He had lost his job at a food factory and had to succumb to benefits
I choked on my coffee at that line.
However, it opens up an interesting line: should one be able to get benefits for being sacked as a result of criminal behaviour?
On the one hand I don't want people committing more crimes and believe that the existence of benefits is partly to prevent that; on the other hand if we insure people against the consequences of crime they choose to commit, that won't discourage them either.
Pity the train didn't come and solve their thieving ways for ever.
"should one be able to get benefits for being sacked as a result of criminal behaviour? " ..
At risk of stating the bleedin' obvious, I always believed that if, by one's criminal actions, one made oneself unemployed, in just the same way as one might if one were to tell the boss where to poke his job .. one rendered oneself ineligible for benefits ..
Metal theft needs to be punished with exemplary and punitive sentences. Say fifteen (real) years.
"I choked on my coffee at that line. "
It was a pretty amazing statement, wasn't it?
"Pity the train didn't come and solve their thieving ways for ever."
That would just result in a huge payout to their relative... :(
"Metal theft needs to be punished with exemplary and punitive sentences. Say fifteen (real) years."
Agreed.
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