Overloaded thief

A Burglar who stole more than £150,000 worth of nickel and copper was caught when his getaway truck's suspension collapsed under the weight of his haul. Career criminal Clive Halford took 18 pallets of the metals from Columbia Metals, on Manners Industrial Estate, Ilkeston, in July this year.

Halford, of Wolverhampton, broke into the warehouse by removing bricks from around the security shutters and forcing them open. He then used a 7.5-tonne tipper truck, which had been stolen from Wolverhampton earlier, to take away the heavy pallets.

Halford, 39, who is married with three children, pleaded guilty to one count of receiving stolen property, the lorry, and one count of burglary, stealing the metal.

David Outterside, prosecuting, told Derby Crown Court yesterday that police stopped Halford in Heanor Road, Ilkeston, because the tipper truck was so overloaded that its suspension had collapsed and the vehicle was dragging on the ground.

The metal was found in the back of the lorry and Halford was arrested.

Mr Outterside said: "At first the warehouse manager estimated the pallets contained about £55,000 worth of metal but on further inspection it was more like three times that amount - £155,000." The metal was recovered but £10,000 worth of damage was caused to the building.

Mr Outterside said that during the burglary Halford had also tried to steal a Nissan van from the warehouse, but overloaded that as well, breaking the suspension and causing £700 worth of damage. The court heard that Halford's offending had begun in 1981 and included burglaries at commercial premises, robbery, driving offences and dishonesty.

Clive Stockwell, for Halford, said his client would not have known the metal was worth so much money. Mr Stockwell said: "He does have a terrible record, something the defendant would admit himself. His one mitigating point is that he pleaded guilty to this offence and I ask your honour to take that into consideration."

Recorder Martin Butterworth sentenced Halford to two years in prison for the burglary. He is already serving three years for a similar offence committed in Sheffield.

Recorder Butterworth said: "You are obviously a career criminal. It has been mainly offences of stealing vehicles and using them to carry out potentially rewarding burglaries."