Essex Police last week announced that a gang responsible for the thefts of copper broadband and phone cables totaling an estimated £1 million ($1.30m) including indirect costs from Openreach across several counties in the UK has been jailed.
In total, four men have been jailed for a combined 14 years.
Essex Police named the men as Billy Lee Junior, Levi Lee, Samuel Sheady-Jones, and Ashley Byford.
The police force revealed that the four men targeted cable and plant material in rural locations across Essex, Suffolk, Cambridgeshire, and Wrexham, Wales.
According to Essex Police's statement, the quartet would travel in 4x4 vehicles with false registration plates, access manhole covers containing cable, cut the cable, and winch it to the vehicle.
The police force noted that the gang's criminal activity resulted in a loss of more than £750,000 ($972,000) to BT and other victims.
Copper theft has been an issue for telecom companies such as Openreach, a subsidiary of BT, due to the high value of the material.
Essex Police stated that following one offense carried out in Earith, Cambridgeshire, it had found a 4x4 vehicle in a field with evidence of stolen cable around it.
When items in the vehicle were forensically tested, officers were able to identify 24-year-old Billy Lee of Chivers Road, Stondon Massey, Essex.
Following this, a detailed investigation carried out by Essex Police's serious and organized crime unit identified a trail of evidence left by the group, which eventually led to the other members being identified; Levi Lee, 22, of Chivers Road, Stondon Massey, Samuel Sheady-Jones, 23, of Cefn Mawr, Wrexham, and Ashley Byford, 26, of Thames Avenue, Chelmsford.
The four men were linked to 31 offenses over a nine-month period, before being arrested in 2022.
Police found large bundles of cash totaling £40,000 ($51,800) after executing warrants at several properties in September 2022.
At one of those properties, both Billy Lee Junior and Levi Lee were arrested. At that same property, officers found another £10,000 ($13,000) in cash, whilst £4,000 ($5,188) was located in a box in a nearby dog kennel.
The officers also found a winch and wire cutters, a Mitsubishi Shogun 4x4, and a Makita drill. Forensic examination of the handle of the drill provided a DNA match to Ashley Byford, who was then arrested in Chelmsford, Essex.
All four men plead guilty to the charges.
Widespread disruption
“This group caused widespread disruption, across a number of areas in England and Wales over a nine-month period," said Detective Inspector Frazer Low, Essex Police.
“This group may have thought they were acting under the radar and weren’t going to get caught. But unfortunately for them, we were able to piece together their movements and their actions and ultimately prove unequivocally that they were responsible. The evidence and information which Openreach was able to supply played a large part in helping us build our case against the group and I’d like to thank them for working so hard alongside us. Ultimately, this work has resulted in a group of people being brought to justice.”
Openreach has been the victim of copper theft for a number of years. Just this year alone, the company has suffered copper theft in the New Forest, Hampshire, and County Tyrone, Northern Ireland.
“Cable thefts are hugely disruptive. The loss of phone and broadband is not only inconvenient but can put vulnerable people at risk. Repair work also pulls our engineers away from other work, can take weeks to finish, and costs thousands of pounds," added Emma Sandison, Openreach security director.
"We take the security of our network seriously and have a wide range of crime prevention tools to prevent thefts and catch those responsible. Our dedicated security team investigates all attacks and our network is alarmed and monitored 24/7 by our control center."
