Ex-footballer found in Rowley Regis manhole stealing cable
A former footballer has admitted causing almost £5,000 damage and disrupting a bank for more than a week by stealing copper cable.
Former West Ham United youth team player Michael Barnard was caught red-handed down a manhole in Rowley Regis by an engineer who went to investigate a line fault.
The defendant pleaded guilty last month but the cost of damage was not established until a hearing at Sandwell Magistrates Court.
The wire was worth £1,297 but the combined loss to BT was £4,759.
Barnard, aged 20, will now be sentenced at Wolverhampton Crown Court on June 11 after magistrates referred the case.
The BT engineer stumbled across the theft while carrying out repair works on April 3.
He had been called to what seemed like a routine job on Habberley Road after a report of a fault on a line.
But when he arrived and removed the manhole cover to fix the problem, he heard a peculiar sound from underground.
He called 999 and officers arrived just in time to see Barnard, who lives in a caravan park in Lower Road, Hextable, Kent, climbing out of the hole covered in dirt.
The court heard that more than 77 metres of copper cable was cut and, of this, 49 metres was missing.
A search underground by BT engineers found torches, copper piping, cutting tools, winching equipment and batteries.
Mr Paul Hitchcock, prosecuting, said the Barclay's bank branch in High Street faced more than a week of disruption as a result of the theft. These sort of offences are quite prevalent at the moment and this cost a great deal of inconvenience to BT and the businesses that rely on BT," he said.
Mr Timothy Talbot-Webb, defending, said "This young man his not a habitual criminal."
