CCTV camera operators helped foil the theft of electric cable from a Darlington building site.

Darlington Magistrates’ Court heard today (Thursday, February 6) that 50-year-old Anthony Morgan and an accomplice slipped through a gap in the perimeter fence at a construction site off Tom Raine Court and loaded metal cable into their waiting van.

Camera operators saw the crime and officers were soon on the scene.

The van, which was not being driven by Morgan, initially sped off when the police arrived, but later skidded to a halt in the middle of the road and the two men were arrested.

Morgan, of Bank Top Mews, Darlington, pleaded guilty to theft in court.

Mitigating, Michael Clarke said that Morgan had lost his home when his partner died of cancer last August and had been relying on friends to support him since then.

Mo Sibert, of the Probation Service, told the court that Morgan had a long history of offences and drug use, but had managed to stay clean for some time until his partner’s death led him back into amphetamine use.

Magistrates sentenced Morgan to a six-month supervision order and told him to pay a £60 victim surcharge.