A would-be copper thief caught breaking into an electrical company's depot told a neighbour who dialled 999:"Look, there's money to be made if you keep quiet."
Jobless driver Paul Amores, 36, of Croydon Road, Beckenham pleaded guilty to going equipped for theft with a hacksaw and two spare blades in King Henry's Walk, Islington on June 12, last year.
Blackfriars Crown Court heard it was the early hours of the morning when a local resident was disturbed by the sound of sawing coming from an EDF Energy yard.
He told two shadowy figures to clear off and the larger of the two (Amores) shouted over his offer to share the loot before he was arrested by arriving police.
Officers found the hacksaw on Amores' accomplice, who later skipped bail and is wanted, and two extra blades were found in the pairs' car along with copper tubing from an unknown source.
Amores (pictured above) is currently serving a twenty-month sentence for over one hundred raids on commuters' cars at railway stations at Sidcup, Petts Wood, Mottingham, Orpington and Barnehurst.
The court was told Amores had led a largely crime-free life until early 2008 when a descent into heroin and crack abuse triggered his offending spree.
Sentencing him to four months imprisonment to run concurrently with the twenty month sentence Judge Aiden Marron QC told Amores: "It is clear the advent of 2008 saw a marked decline in your fortunes and a degeneration of your conduct."
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