Thieves have been targeting everything from lead in church roofs to copper in railway signals as metal prices soar. Special investigation by STEPHEN LEWIS.

METAL thieves cost rail bosses in the North East £10 million in the past year, The Press has learned.

Over the same period, they have caused £150,000 of damage to the roofs of schools in York - while church bosses in the York diocese have made claims for more than £300,000 following the theft of lead and other metals from roofs.

The activities of the metal thieves have been prompted by soaring world metal prices that have seen the cost of lead increase from £400 a tonne to up to £1,000 a tonne in two years.

No one is safe from their depredations.

Only last week, a man appeared in court following the attempted theft of lead from the roof of the Archbishop of York's residence Bishopthorpe Palace.

Highways bosses in Selby have warned that road users' lives have been put at risk by thieves stealing gully grates.

And for the British Transport Police, copper thieves targeting railway signal cables are second only to terrorists in their list of priorities.

Efforts are being made to hit back at the thieves.

Police in Heworth have been supplying everyone from schools, churches, day care centres and ordinary householders with Smartwater in a bid to crack down on lead theft.

York council now tends to fit hinged manhole covers rather than ones which simply lift up, to try to make thieves' lives harder.

And Network Rail employ a range of security measures, from patrols and CCTV coverage to better fencing and burying cables in an attempt to deter criminals.

Here, we assess the extent of the problem - and the efforts being made to tackle it.


Cable thieves cost railways millions

TEN million pounds in the East Coast area alone - that's how much damage cable thieves caused Network Rail last year.

It is not simply the cost that is the problem, says Rachel Lowe, of Network Rail. The thieves were also responsible for "massive delays" that affected thousands of passengers.

The thieves target the copper in signalling cables, which in turn stops signals working.

There is no danger to passengers, Rachel stresses, because the signals go to a default setting if the cables are broken.

"But there is a massive amount of disruption caused to passengers - we have delays several times a week within the north east caused by this."

The cables thieve are a particular problem in Yorkshire and the North East, Rachel says.

Network Rail works closely with the British Transport police in its efforts to foil the criminals.

"We do everything we possibly can - from ensuring that fencing and depot security is kept up to scratch to using hi-tech surveillance systems, security patrols and even using the Network Rail helicopter to patrol."

The organisation is also working to encourage the CPS and the courts to treat theft from the railways as a serious matter.

The criminals should not be regarded simply as people who have stolen a small amount of metal, Rachel said. They were responsible for huge disruption to ordinary people. "So we try to make sure that when somebody comes to court, we have a victim impact statement."

Detective Chief Inspector Danny Snee, of British Transport Police, who co-ordinates the operation against cable thieves in Yorkshire and the north east, said the thieves represented one of the biggest challenges after terrorism.

Between April and February, 602 offences were reported in the north east, and 138 people arrested, DCI Snee said.

"This is an extremely dangerous crime which is costly to the rail industry and causes hours of delays to the thousands of passengers who rely on the rail network. The disruption that is caused really is an attack on the community."

The transport police were working hard with Network Rail to combat the thieves, he said.

"BTP has dedicated cable squads who undertake regular operations, including regular round the clock patrols targeted at hotspot crime areas throughout the north east. We will continue to work hard to catch and prosecute offenders in an effort to stamp out this problem."

Network Rail's Rachel Lowe had a parting word for the thieves. Trespassing was dangerous - and ripping out live cables even more so, she warned.

"They could have 650 volts going up their arm. That is dangerous."


Community is paying the cost

IN THE past 12 months alone, according to City of York Council, thieves have caused about £150,000 of damage to local schools by ripping lead off the roofs.

In an attempt to tackle the problem, the council sometimes tries to replace the stolen lead with other materials.

"But sometimes that requires planning permission, so is not always easy," a spokesperson said.

In December, police warned city residents to be on the alert after lead was stolen from more than 20 properties in the Heworth area, including churches, schools and homes.

In an attempt to beat the thieves, the Heworth Safer Neighbourhood team has been providing schools, churches and other properties with Smartwater - a hi-tech fluid that leaves a forensic fingerprint.

The water is painted' on to metal, and the theory is that traces of the liquid will attach to thieves. Suspects who are arrested can then be passed through an unltraviolet light which illuminates any Smartwater on them.

Many churches are also turning to Smartwater in the hope it might act as a deterrent.

They need to do something. In 2007, according to church insurers, there were 78 insurance claims for more than £300,000 made by churches in the York diocese for metal theft - mostly lead.

That represented about one in ten of all the diocese's 602 churches. In 2006, there were only 13 claims, costing just over £22,000.

In the past, churches had tended to rely on vigilance for protection, Mr Sheppard said. But even a church that was floodlit wasn't necessarily safe.

One church in Driffield that was floodlit on one side was targeted, he said. "Somebody took a transit pick-up around the back, where it was dark, and took lead off the side of the roof," he said. "They are quite brazen about it."

It isn't only lead the thieves are targeting, however.

County highway bosses revealed last week that more than 50 grates - worth £30,000 - had been stolen from road gullies in the Selby area, potentially putting at risk the lives of motorists and other road users.

City of York Council has taken to fitting manhole covers that are hinged, rather than ones that can be lifted free, in an attempt to deter thieves.

Other examples of metal theft recently include:

* The roof of the Rotunda Museum in Scarborough was targeted by lead thieves for a third time in December last year. Security has been increased as a result.

* Lead strips worth hundreds of pounds were stripped from the roof of Park Grove school in York in two thefts in October last year.

* Lead worth thousands of pounds was stolen from the roof of St Mary's Church, Hemingbrough, last September. It was estimated that repairs to the church could cost up to £3,000.


Scrap is booming

YORK scrap metal dealers L Clancey & Sons have been in business since the 1860s. In that time, they have seen highs and lows, admits Richard Clancey.

Because of high worldwide metal prices - the result both of demand from industrialising nations like China, but also increasingly scarce natural resources of metal ore - many manufacturers are using recycled metal rather than ore. Business for scrap dealers is booming, therefore. "Though how long it will be for, I don't know."

The high price of metals does bring its own problems, however - in the form of metal thieves.

L Clancey & Sons do all they can to check on the credentials of suppliers, Mr Clancey says.

The firm has close links with local police. And, by law, they are required to keep detailed books.

"By law we have to take the full name and address of anyone who brings metal in, a description of the metal they have brought, the time it was delivered, and the registration of the vehicle it was delivered in," Mr Clancey said.

The firm is also registered with the BMRA, the British Metals Recycling Association.

"If there is anything that has been stolen of any quantity, we have an internet and email system which will alert all members."

The firm also has regular suppliers it knows it can trust. It can be difficult, however, when members of the public bring scrap in. "We don't want to offend people," Mr Clancey said. "But we do have to be careful."


How the Chinese connection works

THERE is a reason why the cost of metal is soaring, says Harrogate stockbroker Andrew Priestley, of Redmayne-Bentley Stockbrokers.

It is all to do with the industrialisation and urbanisation of China.

The eastern giant, with a population of about 1.3 billion, is going through its own industrial revolution - and one on a massive scale, Mr Priestley says.

China's cities are growing at such a rate that by 2020 an extra 400 million people will have been urbanised', Mr Priestley said.

"That means that over the next 15 years, something like 20 million people will be urbanised every year," he said. "That is like building New York and London every year."

The result was that China was "mopping up" the world's reserves of metal. The situation is made worse by dwindling reserves of metal ores in the ground, and the fact that in the previous 20 years or so, when metal prices were comparatively low, mining companies did not invest enough in finding new reserves.

The result is that in the past three years or so, metal prices have more than doubled. Lead is now thought to fetch between £700 and £1,000 a tonne, compared to just £400 a couple of years ago - while copper now fetches between £2,500 and £3,500 a tonne, compared to £1,000 a few years ago.

No wonder the criminal world is taking notice.