Metal thief cut through live cables at shopping centre to steal copper piping (From The Northern Echo)

Stockton thief left £10,000 repair bill for £200 worth of scrap

8:40am Thursday 2nd February 2012 in News By Neil Hunter

A RECKLESS raider risked his life by cutting through live cables on shopping centre air conditioning units to steal metal to sell for scrap.

James Dobbing, 30, caused thousands of pounds worth of damage and left a number of stores without heating or ventilation for a week.

He was jailed for four years after a court heard he left a £10,000 repair bill for the sake of copper pipes and lead worth only £200 as scrap.

Police discovered the thief, who has been getting “high” since he was 12, pushing a shopping trolley through Stockton town centre at 11.30pm.

He claimed he had bought the metal for £7, and he planned to sell it on for a profit, but the officers did not believe him and he was arrested.

A week earlier, Dobbing had broken into Post House News, in Darlington, and smashed his way into the shop’s locked tobacco counter.

He has been taking anything that would give him a lift since the age of 12, from petrol to LSD.”

Rod Hunt, mitigating,

Teesside Crown Court heard yesterday that he stole cigarettes worth £3,700, but a blood spot left on the display was matched to him.

Dobbing admitted stealing lead flashing and copper pipes from Wellington Square Shopping Centre in Stockton, in October last year.

He also admitted criminal damage to the air conditioning units, and the newsagents burglary – while the subject of a suspended sentence.

Judge Peter Bowers told him: “You are only 30, you have a dreadful record. The trouble is you are just incapable of living an honest life.

“If it moves, you will steal it, and even if it doesn’t move, you will try to steal it.”

Deborah Smithies, prosecuting, said: “This defendant is heavily convicted. He has 30 convictions for 58 offences and they span over a decade.”

Dobbing, of Leybourne Terrace, Stockton, was subject to a 12-month suspended sentence for burglary at the time of his latest crimes.

Rod Hunt, mitigating, said: “He is not a professional scrap thief, more a desperate character. He has been taking anything that would give him a lift since the age of 12, from petrol to LSD.”

The judge told Dobbing: “Theft of metal is something which has become a very prominent and obvious means of obtaining money in this area over recent months.

“We as a court are determined to stamp it out. We are determined to pass sentences which mean other people take notice.”

Shopping centre manager Rob Gildersleeve said afterwards: “His irresponsible act left a number of retailers without heating or ventilation.

“The costs of repairs was in the thousands for what is probably less than £200 of scrap.

“What he did was dangerous, not only to himself but to others – he cut through live cables.”