Midlands copper cable thefts slashed by half
Thefts of copper telephone and broadband cable have more than halved in a year across the West Midlands.
The dramatic drop has seen reported thefts fall from 84 in 2014 to 40 last year.
But the crime is still going mostly unpunished in most cases with 59 cases resulting in no suspects being found two years ago and a further 34 in 2015.
The combined figures, released by West Midlands Police through a Freedom of Information request, means more than 75 per cent of copper thefts have seen no prosecutions.
David Jamieson, Police Crime Commissioner at West Midlands Police, said: "This is a difficult crime to police but we will be making sure significant efforts are put in place to catch the perpetrators of those crimes.
"By working together with public and businesses we hope to continue reducing cable thefts.
"It is a serious crime that damages the economy and can have a huge impact on the people involved."
The Black Country has been blighted by copper thefts over the last few years with thieves targetting everything from scrap metal dealers and builder's merchants, to churches and war memorials.
More than £10,000 worth of metal has been stolen from a scrap dealer in Cannock in December. A cash reward is still being offered for information leading to a conviction.
Copper, brass and crushed central-heating tanks were taken from Chase Metal Recycling at Chaseside Industrial Estate.
The burglars also made off with and damaged office equipment ranging from laptops to electrical hand tools, which left the firm a further £6,000 out of pocket.
An 'extremely amateurish' plan to steal copper from a roof came unstuck in July 2014 when the wannabe thieves had to be rescued by emergency services.
The five men had climbed on to the roof of the old Shenstone House care home, Halesowen, and had started removing the copper and rolling it up before the police helicopter arrived.
In another case, thieves stripped the roof of St Matthew's Church in Walsall leaving a £400,000 repair bill in 2011. The theft left rainwater leaking through the roof, forcing church chiefs to close the children's chapel over the summer.
Piping was ripped from the wall of a Black Country home, causing a gas leak and forcing five properties to be evacuated, the same year.
Copper was also stolen from a Walsall war memorial while workmen were still carrying out repairs following a previous vandal attack in 2010. Metal was stripped from the monument at Barr Beacon just a week after contractors started a near £10,000 project to restore the roof causing a further £4,000 worth of damage.
