Drivers kept soap theft in the famil
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• Two truck drivers have been jailed for stealing a £25,000 load of soap powder from a truck which was being driven by one of their wives.
Dennis Prince of Halewood, Liverpool and Craig Brookes, of Macclesfield, Cheshire both admitted stealing the soap powder, which had been destined for a supermarket at Welling
borough, Northants. Northampton Crown Court heard that Prince and Brookes were both working for Swaines Haulage of Liverpool at the time of the offence in May this year.
Prince's wife Lesley reported to the police that she had been driving the truck when it was hijacked at gunpoint.
But Judge Peter Morrell heard evidence that she was involved in the theft from the start after being recruited by Brookes to drive the truck.
Prince was jailed for 16 months and Brookes was sentenced to a year. Morrell delayed sentencing Lesley Prince for reports after she had been convicted of theft.
The drivers had been regu
larly involved in transporting soap powder but Lesley Prince said she had only agreed to drive the truck under extreme pressure from Brookes.
However, Stephen Crouch, defending Brookes, said: "My client did not put any pressure on anyone, and neither did they on him. Everybody had their part to play."