A THIEF who helped steal almost three miles of railway track in full view of the passing public was jailed yesterday.

Timothy Darby, 31, was recruited by Glen Pendleton, who set up a fake company to dismantle the disused line at Shiney Row, on Wearside, in January last year.

Newcastle Crown Court heard how the cunning crew worked in daylight, using a JCB, vans and a uniformed workforce.

The scrap value of the two-and-a-half miles of line was £16,000 but the cost to reinstate the track, which had been mothballed with the intention of being put back in use within five years, is more than £800,000.

Ian Graham, prosecuting, told the court: "They were seen by local residents, but because it appeared to be professional operation, with vans, a JCB and properly dressed workers, they thought it was legitimate."

Pendleton, 49, of Williams Street, Worksop, Nottinghamshire, was sentenced to two years behind bars last year after admitting theft.

Darby, of Hilton Street, Barnsley, South Yorkshire, is already serving a four-year sentence imposed at Sheffiled Crown Court last year for further offences of dishonesty, including a £100,000 fraud on an elderly woman.

He pleaded guilty to theft and was sentenced to 15 months on top of his four- year term.

Defence barrister Iain Hillis told the court: "Pendleton was the driving force and the intelligence behind it.

"Darby is not a sophistacated criminal - he tends to get caught."