FENLAND: Thieves attempting to steal �5,000 worth of metal caught red handed, court told

TWO thieves borrowed a lorry with a hydraulic lift on the day they set out to steal �5,000 worth of metal from a building site. But Martin Lee and Andrew Ogden were caught red handed after they loaded around six tons of reinforcing steel and a pile cap ca

TWO thieves borrowed a lorry with a hydraulic lift on the day they set out to steal �5,000 worth of metal from a building site.

But Martin Lee and Andrew Ogden were caught red handed after they loaded around six tons of reinforcing steel and a pile cap cage on to the vehicle.

Building firm director Michael Saxby arrived at the Boleness Road building site in Wisbech to find the lorry already loaded with scrap, and police arrested the thieves on site.

Lee, 39, of Black Drove, St John's Fen End; and Ogden, 39, of Fendyke Lane, Gorefield, both admitted stealing five rolls of steel and a pile cap cage from M J S Construction (March) Ltd on February 28, weighing 6.5 tons and worth �5,000.

"Mr Saxby went to the site and saw a blue Daf lorry with a hydraulic lift," prosecutor Scheherazade Haque told Fenland magistrates today.

"Driving a lorry with a hydraulic lift to the site shows a significant amount of premeditation. Someone called the police because of their behaviour.

"Both men admitted they had gone to the site with the intention of stealing, they would have taken the metal to a scrap yard and sold it."

Mitigating, solicitor John Clarke said: "They had heard that this company had gone bust, that owns the site and materials on it.

"They heard that other people had gone to the site and were helping themselves. They were passing, saw the gates open, it looked abandoned, and that is why they went on site."

He said Lee and Ogden disputed the alleged value of the stolen items, saying they weighed around 3.5 tons.

Sentencing was adjourned until April 7.