In court
| Published date | 01 December 2012 |
| DOI | 10.1177/0264550512458634 |
| Date | 01 December 2012 |
| Subject Matter | In court |
In court
In court
Nigel Stone, Senior Lecturer in Criminology in the School of Social Work and
Psychology, University of East Anglia, reviews recent appeal judgments and other
judicial developments that inform sentencing and early release.
Theft
Cable for resale as scrap: Guidance
As a result of the rise in the global price of copper there has been a marked increase
in the theft of copper cable readily accessible from public locations as part of the
infrastructure on which the public rely. The following two cases serve to illustrate the
Appeal Court’s response.
Railway signalling wire. When engineers on th e East Coast mainline were
seeking to make good loss of cable stolen in the early hours they became aware of
further damage and removal of cable, the thieves being still at the scene. Fol-
lowing deployment of police dogs and a helicopter M. and K. were detained and
M. was found to have been responsible for the initial theft, having sold the metal to
a scrap dealer meantime. There had been a spate of such offending affecting that
part of the rail network. Both men were in their mid-twenties, long-term unem-
ployed, with significant criminal records and histories of drug/alcohol depen-
dency. The sentencing judge noted that they had decided to steal cable for
either drink or drugs, though the value of the cable was under £100 and would
only have served that purpose for a couple of days. Neither of them had appar-
ently given any thought to the major inconvenience to many people that their
actions would inevitably cause. M.’s pre-sentence report had recommended a
community order with requirements of supervision, unpaid work and a pro-
gramme, noting a high risk of re-offending that would increase if he were to
resume drinking to excess. He was assessed to demonstrate insight into the conse-
quences of his behaviour and had expressed his regret.
On their appeal against three years’ imprisonment following guilty pleas to theft
and damage, the Court of Appeal noted that the Sentencing Guidelines for theft
were of only limited help because cases of this nature ‘do not sit easily within any of
Probation Journal
59(4) 433–447
ªThe Author(s) 2012
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DOI: 10.1177/0264550512458634
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The Journal of Community and Criminal Justice
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