Dad ‘stole batteries to pay for cost of his wedding’

A DAD-OF-FOUR stole industrial batteries worth almost £17,000 from a phone mast and sold them off to pay for his wedding, a court heard.

Swansea Crown Court heard how David Roost is a field engineer for Beacon Comms, a contractor for Vodafone.

On March 30 last year he decided to visit a Vodafone telephone mast on the outskirts of Fishguard and used a universal key to enter a storage area where industrial batteries were kept as back-up in the event of power failure.

He removed the batteries, worth £16,800, and put electrical insulation tape in their place. An alarm was activated and the incident reported to the police. Forensic swabs were taken at the scene and found traces of Roost’s DNA.

Vodafone made inquiries as to who was employed by them on the day in question and investigations led to Roost who had been working as a contractor. There were no legitimate reasons for Roost to have been in the Fishguard area.

he was arrested on January 5 at his home address in North Court, Haverfordwest, and made no response when he was cautioned.

He was interviewed by police and accepted carrying out the theft by using universal keys to access the cabin where they were kept. He said he sold them for scrap value, one of which went for £2,000, as he was getting married and needed the money.

The 33-year-old appeared for sentencing on Thursday having pleaded guilty to a count of theft.

A business impact statement was read out on behalf of Vodafone’s Phil Giles, which said: “Although there was not a power cut at the time of the offence if there had been there would have been no back-up and risked service loss.”

Mitigating, Ashanti-Jade Walton said: “He is father to four children, two of whom live with him and his partner. He made a mistake and holds his hands up.

“He is still working for the same company as a field engineer. His family rely on him financially.

“He is in debt of £10,000 and is paying that back.”

Sentencing Roost, Judge Keith Thomas said he felt there had been a “degree of planning” and a breach of trust as he was entrusted with the key used to access the batteries.

He was given a 12-month jail sentence, suspended for 18 months, and ordered to carry out 200 hours of unpaid work. He must pay a court surcharge of £140, but the judge said his financial means make him unable to repay compensation to Vodafone.