GANG of metal thieves has been jailed after stealing hundreds of thou- sands of pounds worth of equipment from the region’s railways.

They stole £100,000- worth of railway fenc- ing from Kearsley, as well as carrying out thefts in Atherton, Hindley and Ince, and across the North West.

The men, including one from Darcy Lever, one from Farnworth and two from Radcliffe, raided 15 sections of track in just 16 months.

After the sentencing at Liverpool Crown Court, Det Chief Insp Malcolm McKinnon, of British Transport Police, said: “Metal theft in any form is an attack on our commu- nities.

“When thieves target the railway, the crimi- nality can result in delays to and cancella- tion of services or, in this case, loss of rev- enue for the railway which could have been put towards improve- ments and mainte- nance.”

Jon Howarth, aged 30, of Bradford Street, Farnworth, Paul Gar- ner, aged 44, of Red- cedar Park, Darcy Lever, Leon Lord, aged 27, of Church Road, Radcliffe, and Philip Broadhurst, aged 36, of Hazel Avenue, Rad- cliffe, were key mem- bers of the gang.Thomas Coffey, aged 46, who was said to be the “lynchpin”, and Paul Davidson, aged 48, Scott Davidson, aged 23, Michael David- son, aged 43, and David Mundy, aged 29, all of Salford, were also members.

Police first launched an investi- gation into the gang — some of who have experience working on the railway — in April 2009.

Hire firms were duped into send- ing vehicles to take redundant rail to scrap dealers.

The gang would pay the driver in cash and claim to be genuine rail workers.

In Kearsley, they stole £100,000- worth of fencing belonging to a hire company and sold it for £25,000 for scrap.

They carried out similar thefts in Chorley, Widnes, Romiley, Hindley, Ince, Atherton, Glossop, Sutton Weaver, Todmorden, Blackburn, Timperley, and Chester, and fled with an addition- al £92,000-worth of metal.

British Transport Police detec- tives began warning scrap deal- ers, rail staff and vehicle-hire firms to remain vigilant as part of Operation Aerial.

Then police caught some of the defendants in the act, leading to the arrest of the others, in August 2010.

DNA taken from tools and cloth- ing, along with phone evidence and statements from vehicle hire firms, proved vital during court proceedings.

All nine men admitted conspira- cy to steal rail and fencing belong- ing to Network Rail and others.

Coffey was jailed for five years, Garner for three years and two months, Paul Davidson for two years and eight months, Lord and Michael Davidson for two years each, Scott Davidson, Howarth and Broadhurst for 20 months each and Mundy for 16 months. Det Chief Insp McKinnon said: “This case is unusual in that metal thieves who target the rail- way tend to steal cable rather than the rail itself, but the offenders hatched a plan they believed would draw less suspicion. They were wrong.”

John Dilworth, a complex case worker with the Crown Prosecu- tion Service, added: “The unau- thorised removal of rail from the trackside close to operational rail- way lines is not only blatant theft, it also presents a danger to rail staff and passengers.”