The Peterborough Evening Telegraph
Car and van are crushed after use in fuel theft
Two vehicles seized by police following a £ 6,000 diesel theft at a brickworks at King’s Dyke, near Whittlesey, have been destroyed. The Ford Galaxy car and Iveco vanwerecrushedonMondayat Peterborough Metal Recycling, in Oxney Road, after a successful application to the courts by Cambridgeshire police.
It followed the conviction of TomasStaciukevicius, of Crawthorne Road, Peterborough, and friend Marijus Mejeris, of NorthfieldRoad, Peterborough, in relation to a fuel theftatHanson, in LondonRoad, in the early hours of January 22.
Police caught the pair, aged 29 and 27 respectively at the time of their conviction in May, in a car park with more than 200 containers of diesel, valued at £ 6,043 in total, which had been stolen moments before from lorries belonging to the brick manufacturer.
The Ford Galaxy was filled with 19 cans of diesel, while the Iveco van had 75 containers near it and 175 containers in it, all filled with diesel.
Staciukevicius was jailed for eight months after pleading guilty to handling stolen go o d s a nd go - ing equipped for theft, while Mejeris was given an eight- month prison term suspended for two years as well as a three- month curfew.
BothStaciukeviciusandMejeris were banned from driving for one year and Judge Nic Madge said at Peterborough Crown Court the car and van should be seized.
It has taken until this week for the car and van to be destroyed after the defendants fought to save the vehicles from the scrapyard, a spokesmanfor Cambridgeshire police told the Peterborough Telegraph.
Det Con Ahmed Ishaq, who led the investigation, said destructions are approved “very rarely”.
He said: “I think police have alwaystried to havevehiclesdestroyed, butit’s difficulttomake courts go for it.”
He said in this instance, however, the court was persuaded by the quantities involved in the theft - with a total of 4,748 litres taken from Hanson’s brickworks.
He s a i d: “I t doesn’t happen that often. Cambridgeshire police are trying to push f or more destructions to hamper these criminals.”
Headded: “It’s a good result. Wehave got these criminals off the road. We have got a large proportion of fuel that was stolen back to the site as well and obviously word gets around Cambridgeshire police is patrolling the area.”