Man appears in court accused of stealing 600 drain covers

A man has appeared in court accused of stealing more than 600 metal drain covers from streets in Worcestershire and Warwickshire.

The covers – belonging to three local councils – were said to have a value of £155,325.

Graham Leith, aged 26, from High Street, Studley, Warwickshire faces ten charges of theft…”including theft by finding”.

And he faces one charge of selling covers for a payment of £428, contrary to the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002.

Leith is accused of stealing the drain covers from roads in many parts of the Midlands.

Locations include Redditch, Nuneaton, Bromsgrove, Bidford-on-Avon, Alcester, Shirley near Birmingham, and at Green Lane in his home village of Studley.

It was alleged at Redditch Magistrates Court that in a four-day period in January alone, Leith took 272 covers from various roads in Redditch and in Warwickshire.

And it's claimed that in just one day in December, he took 108 drain covers - also in the Redditch area.

Leith's appearance in Court One was brief, and few details of the alleged offences were given.

The district judge told him he'd be committed to Worcester Crown Court on May 16.