Hidden camera used to snare cable thief

Man, 51 denies stripping wire from railway line and claims he found it while strolling through woods

Sentence has been deferred on a crook who stole a quantity of telecoms cabling which had been stored in woods near a railway line in Plean.

John Anderson McCorgary has been convicted of stealing cabling after “finding it” and “appropriating some of it for his own use” in woodland adjacent to train tracks at Plean junction on February 5 last year.

Stirling Sheriff Court heard last week how McCorgary, 51, denies stripping the cabling from the railway line and instead says that he happened to come across it smouldering away in some woodland while he was out for a walk.

A fault had initially been detected on the line at Plean on February 3 and when Network Rail attended they found that 65 metres of wire had gone missing from the track.

A police search was carried out the following day and a sack full of wiring was found in woodland nearby – although the length of cabling was found to be 47 metres opposed to 65 metres.

Rather than lifting the sack officers left it where it was but positioned an undercover camera nearby. On February 5 McCorgary was seen on the camera footage.

He was traced the day after and taken to Falkirk Police Station where he was cautioned and charged.

McCorgary’s defence solicitor Ms McGuigan said: “His position is that he was simply passing by on what is a known local shortcut. He saw smoke coming from the bushes and went to investigate. At that point he saw the cables and picked them up.

“He says that he dumped them not long afterwards as it was too difficult to carry.”

Sheriff Richard McFarlane commented: “I have difficulty accepting this position. How could there have been smoke coming from the cables if it had been left for days and positioned there by police?

“I’m concerned about the report. This was the theft of something highly marketable on the black market – and taking cabling can be potentially disastrous for users of the network.”

Sheriff McFarlane continued the case to allow the Procurator Fiscal to ascertain the full value of telecoms cabling stolen and for another Sheriff to preside over the case.

McCorgary will return to the dock at Stirling Sheriff Court on Wednesday (November 23).

A Network Rail spokesman said: “We continually seek to develop ways to protect the network from thieves and work with the British Transport Police to prosecute anyone caught carrying out metal thefts.”