A RONKSWOOD man stole tools from a builder working at a neighbouring house in a bid to get work done at his home, a court has heard.
Anthony Brophy, of Carlisle Road, took two power saws, worth £200, from a van parked down the road from his property on July 29.
Anthony Lacey was doing work at the house, which has the same landlord as Brophy, and the 46-year-old was angered nothing was being done to his, Worcester Magistrates Court was told last Friday (August 15).
About 3.30pm the victim went to the rear of his van to get more equipment and realised the two saws were missing, so asked to check the CCTV on a nearby property.
This showed Brophy had stolen the items so Mr Lacey watched the defendants house and called the police.
The court was also told how two people then ran out the back of Brophy’s Carlisle Road address with a black bag containing the tools. The bag was eventually recovered but one of the saws was bent and the other had its plastic handle smashed off.
Defending solicitor Paul Stanley said: “All the work seems to be being done at the other address and not his, which has led to disagreements with the landlord.
“To get him to do work at his he regrettably took these tools.
“Words have been exchanged between him and the work man and the tools are then removed from the property by two individuals he didn’t name.
“There were two reasons why he did it, one was to teach him a lesson and the other was to get some money.”
The father-of-three was deemed ‘unsuitable’ for unpaid work and was instead handed a 12-week curfew at his address from 7pm to 5am and ordered to pay £200 compensation to Mr Lacey.
District Judge Nigel Cadbury said: “I consider this as a very mean offence, we know you had a disagreement with the landlord but it’s not the builders fault work was going on next door and not yours.
“It’s a disgraceful thing to steal property belonging to work men so they can’t carry out the work for their trade.
“The impression I get is you had already sold these saws to those two lads that were seen running away.”
Brophy also had to pay a £60 victim surcharge.
