St Helens pair jailed for trainline cable theft

A PAIR of bungling thieves who plunged the North West’s busiest train line into chaos, at a cost of £8.5m, were jailed for two years.

A PAIR of bungling thieves who plunged the North West’s busiest train line into chaos, at a cost of £8.5m, were jailed for two years.

Wayne Halliwell, 44, and Norvall Waugh, 44, were told their actions in stealing copper signal cabling could have caused a train wreck on the West Coast Main Line which runs from London through Liverpool to Glasgow.

Liverpool Crown Court heard yesterday that Waugh, of Whinbury Court, St Helens, stole 2.5km of cabling to sell on for its copper between July and September last year.

The tampering, which earned the pair around £200, caused 170 train cancellations and cost £25,000 to fix.

The greatest damage was done when Waugh stole copper from the railway at St Helens, on July 20, accidentally shutting down the backbone of England’s rail network.

Ben Morris, prosecuting, said: “£8.5m of damages were sustained by Network Rail as the consequence of the committing of these counts.

“When the train companies can’t run their trains, Network Rail has to pay compensation.”

Waugh pleaded guilty to seven counts of theft and obstructing a train.

Edmund Haygarth, defending Waugh, said: “The vast figure that we have heard comes from one act. It effectively changed the case from an expensive nuisance to a commercial inconvenience where the expense could be measured in the millions.”

Wayne Halliwell, of Clockface Road, St Helens, pleaded guilty to seven counts of handling stolen goods, though the prosecution maintained he was equally involved in the thefts.

Mike Haggerty, defending, said his client knew the cable was stolen but not where from, and that the married dad-of-three should be shown leniency because of a family illness.

Judge John Murray said the pair put the lives of employees and passengers of Network Rail in danger and that the country relied upon the train network to function.

He added: “The sentences I am about to pass are to punish you, because you deserve it, and to deter others from acting in the way you have done.

“The whole escapade was organised, persistent and dangerous.”