Thief caught stealing lead off Tesco roof in broad daylight

[dutchman]

A thief brazenly stole lead off a town centre supermarket roof in broad daylight in front of hundreds of shoppers.



But he was spotted by security guards - and is now serving a jail sentence.

Forty-year-old Maxwell Lee Hill, of Portland Street, Leamington, was given an eight-week prison sentence after pleading guilty before Nuneaton magistrates to stealing the lead from Tesco in March.

Two security guards who were outside Tesco in The Parade at about 3pm on March 27 saw him coming down a fire escape carrying a plastic bag “with some weighty object inside it,” said prosecutor William Foster.

“They stopped him when he got to the bottom of the fire escape. He threw the plastic bag at the security guards and he ran off.

“The bag was found to contain some rolled-up lead. The store manager went up onto the roof and, sure enough, lead was clearly missing from where it should have been.

“Lead to the value of some £150 was taken. Damage was caused estimated at £60.”

Hill was taken to the police station, where he claimed to have found the carrier bag abandoned at the bottom of the fire escape. “That is not the case because he was seen by the security guards,” added Mr Foster.

“He was on bail for other offences.

“He has a number of custodial sentences on his record starting in 1996.”

At an earlier hearing, magistrates declined jurisdiction and decided Hill should go before a judge. He did not indicate pleas.

Because of Hill’s lengthy criminal record and failure to respond to earlier sentences, Nuneaton magistrates decided on Tuesday he should receive immediate custody.

[Spuffler]

Not the brightest spark, eh?