Semi-trailer theft costs £2,200
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• Cheshire haulier Gary Murphy has been fined £1.500 with 1700 costs for the theft of a semi-trailer.
He was also ordered to pay 147 compensation for the trailer to be returned to its owner, CEP Farms, of Colstenvorth, near Grantham, Lincolnshire (CM 3-9 June).
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trial at Lincoln Crown Court .
The prosecution maintained that Murphy asked one of his drivers, Michael Dalton, to drive to Colsterworth and collect the trailer. Though some alterations had been made to it, the trailer still bore distinctive markings showing that it belonged to CEP Farms when police recovered it from Murphy's yard on the Cockshades Farm Industrial Estate, Crewe.
Following his conviction Murphy admitted breaking the terms of a 15month suspended prison sentence imposed at Stokeon-Trent Crown Court in March 1991 for the theft of a trailer. The suspension was revised to run for a further 12 months.
In mitigation for Murphy, Jeremy Lea said he was normally an honest and hard working man who had built up his own busins. If he went to prison the business would almost certainly fold, leading to the repossession of Murphy's house and the loss of two jobs.
Assistant Recorder David Richardson said that it had been a mean offence of theft, because it had involved giving instructions to an innocent man to fetch the trailer, putting him in jeopardy But he felt that Murphy, who had spent a week in custody awaiting sentence, had spent long enough in prison.