Gang in court over theft of power tools in Telford

Three of the men have now been jailed for more than four years in total.

The gang was caught driving south in convoy, after lifting drills valued at £21,208.08 from a HGV through a hole cut in its canvas side.

George Stott, Kyle Nutton, Nathan Carver and Callum Milner were all sentenced at Shrewsbury Crown Court after admitting their part in the operation, which prosecutors said took "significant planning" on the part of those who put them up to it.

Stott and Carver were given 18 months in jail each, Nutton 16 months and the youngest, Milner, a one-year sentence suspended for two years because of the 21-year-old's "smaller role" in the crime and lack of previous convictions.

A fifth man, Paul Kellett, 42 and of Northcote Drive in Leeds, was committed for sentence alongside the others but did not attend court, and a warrant for his arrest was issued.

The court heard that Carver had agreed with criminal associates in his native Leeds to carry out the crime, after finding himself in financial trouble while supporting his wife and children when she was ill.

He and the others were sent to Telford in October 2017 to steal the Makita tools.

Hungary

Rob Edwards, for the prosecution, said that at about 5pm on October 4, a lorry arrived at the Makita Manufacturing Europe site in Hortonwood, Telford, to collect 61 pallets of power tools for a delivery to Hungary the next day.

Mr Edwards said: "The driver left at 6.30pm and parked on land about 15 metres from the plant entrance. It was his intention to remain there for a period of time and thereafter to continue his journey back to Hungary."

He told the court that at about 2.20am the next day the driver awoke to the sounds of voices, and pulled back the curtains on his window to see three men by the side of the trailer.

The man also spotted two vehicles, one of which he could identify as a "Sprinter-type van".

Mr Edwards said: "One man saw him watching and approached the cab, and indicated that he should close the curtain by tapping repeatedly on the window."

The van drove away after some time, and the lorry driver could see a man running in the same direction.

He then got out to inspect the trailer, and found several of the tools missing and a portion of canvas that had been cut away from the side of the lorry.

The driver alerted the police, and before long the van was spotted travelling on the southbound M6 in convoy with a car.

Officers stopped both vehicles, found the tools in the van and arrested the men.

Research

Mr Edwards told the court: "We say this was a case where there was significant planning, because this was a targeting of a lorry which had literally just been loaded with high value goods, and [it] would have required considerable research."

Representing Carver, Eddison Flint said that his client was desperate when he agreed to take part, and that the planning had been done by his contacts in Yorkshire.

He said: "The financial position that he found himself in at the time meant that he felt he had no choice and volunteered to go. He didn't know where they were going, he was simply at a house waiting for a call and he got into a vehicle."

The court heard that Stott has received convictions for 44 offences dating back to 1977.

Representing him, Sean Smith said that his role in the crime had been as a "collector" for the other thieves.

David Birrell, for Nutton, said that at the time his client was out of work due to an injury, and was struggling financially after helping to pay for his late father's funeral.

Representing Milner, Alexandra Sutton said that his grandfather, who he considered a role model, had died not long before the theft and that he had started using drugs, building up debt as a result.

Judge Peter Barrie said: "You all played a necessary part in a carefully planned and organised exercise to steal from a lorry that was parked overnight with a load of valuable tools.

"I accept that you were the people who were sent to Telford to do the physical work. It probably was at least one other person organising it, it probably was someone local providing you with information."

He said he recognised that "no specific threat" had been made to the lorry driver, and that no "unnecessary" damage was caused.

To Milner he said a suspended sentence was appropriate but warned: "You will never again be able to say you have not been before the courts."

Stott, 52 and of Stone Brig Lane in Rothwell; Nutton, 29 and of Flaxton Street in Leeds; Carver, 28 and of Borrowdale Crescent, also Leeds, and Milner, of Winrose Drive in Leeds, all pleaded guilty to one count of theft at an earlier hearing.