Woodchipper taken from outside hotel spotted for sale on Facebook for £21k
A WOODCHIPPER worth £21,000 was stolen from a company who later saw the piece of equipment for sale on Facebook.
They contacted the seller who arranged to meet them and they called the police.
North Wales Tree Solutions employees had travelled to Cardiff in order to carry out a contract and were staying at the Future Inn in Cardiff Bay.
Their van was parked in the hotel car park, and contained a Forst woodchipper worth £21,540.
A sentencing hearing at Cardiff Crown Court on Friday heard CCTV footage taken on December 23 last year revealed a white van pulled up and was seen leaving with the woodchipper overnight.
But the victims were not aware of the theft, and only realised when they began working.
They tracked the woodchipper to the Rover Way area but when police searched the vicinity the equipment was not located.
Some time later, the tree surgeons saw the woodchipper for sale on Facebook Marketplace, with the seller’s name given as Georgie Martin.
Contact was made with Martin, 21, who gave his address as Drope Terrace, near Michaelston super Ely.
A sale was agreed and police contacted the defendant. It was established he was not in possession of the woodchipper, and it had never been in his possession.
Martin was arrested and interviewed, when he admitted placing the woodchipper up for sale after being offered £500.
He refused to divulge who was behind the theft, referring to the culprits as “people you do not cross”.
The defendant later pleaded guilty to handling stolen goods. The woodchipper was not recovered.
In a victim personal statement read to the court, representative of North Wales Tree Solutions said: “We headed down to Cardiff to fulfil a long-term project, being a small business we’re unfortunately not blessed to pick and choose our work. It was financially viable to make the trip down to south Wales and it was a must for us to do.
“We drove up in the morning and proceeded to head to work and my co worker shouted to me ‘Where’s the woodchipper?.’
“We were in total disbelief, called the police and checked the tracker. We headed back up north having lost hours worth of work, we did not feel comfortable leaving equipment and tools in Cardiff.
“My partner found an ad on Facebook with a woodchipper up for sale and I knew it was our woodchipper.
“We had to work like mad and sacrifice so much to get what we could out of the business, not only did they steal the woodchipper, they stole our passion, sanity, and belief out of us.
“It got to the point we wanted to pull the plug, what’s the point of working hard for years when a thief can just take what they want.”
Sentencing, Recorder Greg Bull KC said: “I am satisfied you took a chance to sell this woodchipper and never came into contact with it.
“All you have done is lost your good character.”
Martin was sentenced to six months’ imprisonment suspended for 18 months.
He was also ordered to carry out an 18-day rehabilitation activity requirement and 100 hours of unpaid work.