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| £150,000 Frampton-on-Severn cable theft: Cardiff gang jailed | |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| A seven-man gang from Cardiff who risked their lives to steal £150,000 worth of live cable have been jailed. | A seven-man gang from Cardiff who risked their lives to steal £150,000 worth of live cable have been jailed. |
| The cables had been taken from 33,000-volt electricity pylons in a field in Gloucestershire and then taken to the Welsh capital. | |
| Two of the men were convicted of conspiring to steal the cable in a hearing at Gloucester Crown Court last month. | Two of the men were convicted of conspiring to steal the cable in a hearing at Gloucester Crown Court last month. |
| Five other men had pleaded guilty to the same charge at an earlier hearing. | Five other men had pleaded guilty to the same charge at an earlier hearing. |
| Judge William Hart told the men: "It was well planned and needed considerable audacity bordering on foolhardiness. | Judge William Hart told the men: "It was well planned and needed considerable audacity bordering on foolhardiness. |
| "It did not affect local power supplies, but that was more luck than judgement." | "It did not affect local power supplies, but that was more luck than judgement." |
| The theft of cable belonging to Western Power Distribution took place at Netherhills farm in Frampton-on-Severn, Gloucestershire. | |
| 7,000 metres | |
| High voltage pylons were scaled and live copper conductors were cut through at both ends of the cable. | |
| The copper cable rolled up for onward sale measured some 7,000 metres and was disposed of in the Cardiff area. | |
| Brothers Vijay and Umar Chohan, from Ely in Cardiff, had denied their parts in the offence but were convicted by a jury last month - both were sentenced to two years in prison. | |
| Their trial heard the men were caught after a policeman on patrol in the area became suspicious after speaking to the occupants of a Ford Transit van and a Ford Fiesta car who told him they had been rabbiting. | |
| Telephone numbers relating to ABM Salvage in Argyll Way, Cardiff - a business run by Umar Chohan - were found on the defendants' mobile phones. | |
| When police visited the premises Umar Chohan told them that he had stopped dealing in scrap metal and was now a vehicle repair shop. | |
| But while officers were still there a man called and delivered scrap metal, "so suspicions were further aroused," said prosecutor Mark Worsley. | |
| Subsequent analysis of the two defendants' mobile phones revealed several calls on the night of the crime to other defendants who had already admitted their involvement in conspiring to steal the cable. | |
| Paul Condick and Nathan James from Cardiff and Liam Murphy from Llandough were given 21 months. | |
| Martin Richards and Stephen Phillips, also from Cardiff, each received two-and-a-half year sentences. |