A HAPLESS metal thief from Oldbury has been jailed for three years after being caught redhanded stealing copper piping from a Dudley house.

Martin Bennett, aged 24, Gresham Road, was sentenced at Birmingham Crown Court after being found guilty of burglary.

Bennett was arrested on the evening of Tuesday, February 5 this year at a house in Russell Street, Dudley, after a call was made to police from neighbours who heard banging and sawing noises coming from the unoccupied address.

Within minutes of receiving the call, officers went to the address and saw Bennett and another man climb out a back window onto a flat roof.

Both were arrested on suspicion of burglary and charged.

At the address police found a large amount of damage caused as a result of the radiators being ripped from a wall for the copper piping.

A second man, aged 26 from Tividale, was sentenced to eight months imprisonment for the same offence after pleading guilty at an earlier court appearance.

PC Nick Slym from Dudley Local Policing Unit said: "I am pleased with the outcome of this case, especially after seeing the amount of damage caused by these individuals. “Theft of copper and metal has risen in the past few years however Bennett's sentence shows that this is an offence that is taken seriously."