Christmas curfews for West Midlands lead theft gang
Four men caught stealing lead from the grounds of an abandoned pub have been handed curfews to stop them socialising during Christmas time.
They had targeted a pub near Bridgnorth which had been closed down and was awaiting sale.
A court was told that they parked a Ford Transit nearby but were spotted and the police were called.
Lead was also found to be missing from a neighbouring property by officers investigating at the scene.
Steven Pitchford, 23, of Orchard Lane in Codsall, Joseph Colin Pearson, 27, of Brooklands Road in Albrighton, Joshua Lear, 20 of Calcott in Stirchley, Telford, and Daniel Langford, 23 of Smallwood in Sutton Hill, Telford, all admitted two charges of theft by finding.
All four were handed suspended prison sentences at Telford Magistrates Court following the theft in January.
Deputy District Judge Jim Tindal said that theft of lead was treated extremely seriously because of the damage it could cause to buildings and because its sale often went to fund other sources of crime.
Mr Tindal said that he accepted the men had not taken part in stripping a roof but had simply stolen lead that they had found.
Mr Steven Meredith, for the defendants, said the men were extremely remorseful and the majority of them had been tearful when interviewed by the probation service.
"This is not a church, this is not a school, this is a disused public house that has not been used for years," he added.
The court was told that three of the men – Langford, Pearson and Lear – had previous convictions while Pitchford had none.
Deputy District Judge Tindal said that in addition to their sentences he would not add an order to carry out unpaid work in the punishment as this would interfere in the men finding jobs.
He added that because of the men's age "the most punitive thing I can do is to prevent you from socialising outside your homes over the Christmas period", and ordered that all four observe a two-month curfew from 7pm to 7am.
Both Langford and Pearson were sentenced to two months in prison, suspended for two years and a 12-month supervision order requiring 25 activity sessions.
Lear was given the same sentence but without the mandatory activity sessions.
Pitchford was given a community order for 12 months with 12 months of supervision. Each man was ordered to pay a £80 victim surcharge and Lear and Pitchford were ordered to pay an additional £80 in costs.
