A ROMANIAN man who was unwittingly roped in to stealing £3,500 worth of power lines has been handed community service.

Adrian Serban appeared at Ayr Sheriff Court last week where he admitted to nicking the copper cable in Mossblown last September.

The 37-year old, who now lives in Glasgow, was nabbed along with two others in a field near Sandyford Road in Mossblown in on September 4 last year.

Depute fiscal Stephen McLean said: “At around 2am on September 4 police constables were on mobile patrol in a marked police vehicle on the A77.

“They observed a BMW 5 Series travelling north towards Glasgow on the A77. The speed was in excess of 70 miles per hour.

“The officers saw the accused in the vehicle.”

When questioned, Serban told police that he had just finished work.
Cops then told the three men that they were being detained for a search for stolen items.

During their search police discovered four large wheels of cable in the boot as well as gloves.

Serban was then arrested for theft and it was discovered that the copper had been stolen the previous night.

Following a further search of the BMW police found paperwork, detailing a list of locations in Mauchline, Mossblown and Annbank.

Defence solicitor, Tony Currie told the court how Serban had been roped in to the fiasco by his two former co-accused whom he had only recently met.

Mr Currie said: “His former co-accused appeared on the scene one week before this evening. They came from the Manchester area.

“He knew it was suspicious and that there was some wrong doing.”
The court also heard how the cable had been cut down, causing a power cut with Scottish Power saying in a statement ‘whoever cut this down is lucky to be alive’.

Sheriff John Montgomery accepted Serban’s defence that he had made a mistake.

Sheriff Montgomery said: “I’m satisfied from what I’m told that you made a gross mistake and you were duped by your former co-accused up to a certain point.

“You should have walked away at that point and you didn’t.”

Sheriff Montgomery ordered Serban to carry out 300 hours of unpaid work.