Three would-be metal thieves caught trying to raid a Staffordshire business have been fined £100.

Bosses at WW Commercial today condemned the sentences handed down to the gang and described the case as “ludicrous.”

They have been forced to spend thousands of pounds boosting security following a string of raids.

Marin Lupu, aged 42, and Marian Chirigel, 34, both of Willes Road, Winson Green, Birmingham, and Sergiu Bragete, 25, of Aylesford Road, West Bromwich, admitted theft.

A fourth man, a 33-year-old, was cautioned, and his accomplices appeared before Burton magistrates, who fined them each £100, ordered them to pay costs of £85 and a victim surcharge of £15.

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