A “career criminal” who went out to strip cables from the railways was caught by a police dog after crashing the van he was using at the trackside and running off, a court has heard. The cable which Zack Kingsley took had a scrap value of some £13,500 but the cost of repairing the damage he caused and returning the line to use was more than £72,000.
A judge at Swansea Crown Court said the theft of cables from the railways was “something of an epidemic” and said the message needed to be heard that “those who strip the railways of cabling can expect immediate custody”. The 26-year-old defendant was sentenced to 12 months in prison.
The court heard that on the night of December 6, 2022, British Transport Police officers responded to reports of a possible cable theft from the railway tracks around Llandarcy. A request was made to stop all traffic on the line and the transport cops, assisted by a South Wales Police dog unit, began a search of the area. Matt Murphy, prosecuting, said at around 8.40pm the officers spotted the headlines of a van coming towards them along the line. The court heard that when the driver of the van – later identified as Kingsley – spotted the officers the van reversed away at speed before crashing in bushes. Two males alighted from the Ford Transit and ran off.
The court heard the men were chased and Kingsley was caught by the dog handler and “and his canine colleague”. The second male escaped into the night. When the stranded Transit was searched officers found a large quantity of armoured Siemens cabling and a collection of tools. The prosecutor said the scrap value of the cable was around £13,500 but the cost of repairing the damage done and returning the line to use was £72,237. The defendant’s home in Cardiff – which he shared with his father – was subsequently searched and his dad confirmed the van used in the theft was his and his son did not have permission to use it.
Zack Kingsley, of Caerau Lane, Caerau, Cardiff, had previously pleaded guilty to theft and to taking a vehicle without consent when he appeared in the dock for sentencing. He has 23 previous convictions for 44 offences including unlawful wounding, assault occasioning actual bodily harm and controlling or coercive behaviour from 2021, breaching a restraining order, and 16 theft and fraud matters. The defendant was out of prison on licence for the wounding offence when he committed the cable theft. Megan Williams, for Kingsley, said it was accepted the defendant was under the influence of cocaine at the time of the offence but said they were her instructions that he no longer takes that drug and he has taken steps to “distance himself from negative influence” in his life. For the latest court reports, sign up to our crime newsletter here.
Judge Geraint Walters said on the night in question the defendant was “tooled up and was out on an expedition to steal” but had been caught red-handed by police. He said the theft of cabling had become “something of an epidemic” and said the message needed to be heard that “those who strip the railways of cabling can expect immediate custody”. The judge described Kingsley as a “career criminal” but said he was lucky there had been an “inordinate delay” in prosecuting him as that meant his sentence would be less than otherwise would have been the case.
With a discount for his guilty pleas, the defendant was sentenced to 12 months in prison comprising 12 months for the theft and four months for the vehicle taking to run concurrently. Kingsley will serve up to half the 12 months in custody before being released on licence to serve the remainder in the community.
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