AN unlicensed scrap dealer caught twice within a fortnight with locomotive parts stolen in raids which cost a rail firm £1.5m has been jailed for a year.

Brian Brady carried on with his illegal trade despite a police search of his Stockton home uncovering items stripped from Class 56 locomotives.

Ten days after the raid, more stolen parts were found in his garage as well as a lock-up he rented nearby, Teesside Crown Court was told yesterday.

Brady, who has more than 90 offences on his record, was told by a judge that the case was made more serious by his continued law-breaking.

“What makes this a particularly serious matter is you, for many years, have been trading as an unlicensed scrap dealer,” said Judge Michael Taylor.

“You paid scant regard to checking that which came into your premises, and you were subject to a raid on October 11 and items were recovered.

“You didn’t inform the police that other premises and your home had similar property and in the subsequent raid further property was discovered.

“You had an opportunity to do something about it, and you chose not to which shows what was in your mind – you were acting in a dishonest way.”

Brady, 52, of Bedford Street, admitted two charges of handling stolen goods when he appeared in court on an earlier occasion. The court heard that the parts – including radiator elements, electrics, cables and metal piping – were stolen from a rail depot in Thornaby.

Six locomotives were in storage at a DB Schenker depot after being replaced by new rolling stock, and were to be sold to other rail firms for £1.5m.

Olivia Checa-Dover , prosecuting, said the locomotives had been “systematically stripped of vital parts” by thieves over a period of months.

Charlotte Atherton, mitigating, said Brady could not be linked to the thefts, and did not know where the scrap had come from when he bought it.

The parts were “dirty and misshapen” when he got them, she said, adding: “They didn’t appear to have come fresh from a fully-working locomotive.”

Miss Atherton admitted Brady’s criminal record was “rather appalling” but said he had stayed out of trouble recently and helped police.

She said he had signs at his garage saying he did not accept stolen property, and once handed over an antique £40,000 brass plate to detectives.