Three-year community-based order for copper thief after brazen burglaries at Albany electrical business

A father-of-five has been placed on a three-year community-based order after breaking into an Albany electrical business twice in one week, stealing more than $2000 of copper wire. Jamie Greville Hart, 49, faced Albany Magistrates Court on Tuesday in police custody on four charges over the commercial burglary. Hart was charged with one count of aggravated burglary and commit, two counts of stealing, and one count trespassing. He also faced charges from a separate incident in April relating to the use of an unlicensed vehicle and driving with an expired WA driver’s license. He pleaded guilty to all six charges. In the early hours of Monday morning, Hart and an alleged co-accused person parked a vehicle on Minna Street in Centennial Park, climbed a boundary fence at J&S Castlehow Electrical Services and removed a wall panel to enter a shed. Several lengths of copper wire were cut from a spool, valued about $2000, using an electrical-powered tool before Hart and the co-accused person jumped the fence to leave the scene. On Tuesday morning, Hart and the same co-accused again targeted the same business and removed about $100 worth of copper wire from a bin. The charges brought with them a maximum 20 years imprisonment for aggravated burglary and commit, and $12,000 in penalties for trespassing. Magistrate Dianne Scaddan sentenced Hart to a three-year community-based order for the burglaries and ordered he undergo drug and psychological counselling. “There was some degree of planning, you’ve used a power tool to slice off a decent chunk of wire,” she said. Hart was fined $400, for the stealing charges and ordered to return the copper to J&S Castlehow Electrical Services. He also received a total of $595 in fined for the traffic charges and cited the increased cost of living as the reason he failed to renew his driver’s licence and failed to transfer the unregistered vehicle to his name.