A ROMANIAN national who helped himself to scrap metal out of a skip without permission has landed himself a criminal record.

Titel Neagu, 32 and of Walsall Road in Birmingham, pleaded guilty to one count of theft by finding at Welshpool Magistrates Court on Tuesday, September 24.

Prosecutor Helen Tench told the court that on August 16, 2024, Neagu was on the Mochdre Industrial Estate in Newtown after visiting a friend he knew through his scrap metal business.

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He came upon a skip containing scrap metal on a main road which belonged to MakeFast Group but when he took them out, members of staff there complained to him and police were called.

Robert Hanratty, defending, told Magistrates that Neagu was on the industrial estate to visit his friend for work reasons.

Mr Hanratty explained that a language barrier meant that Neagu could not explain to the people that he himself was interested in scrap metal and also could not articulate himself to offer to pay for the items.

However, he said his client also did not leave the scene and explained to police what had happened.

County Times:

The solicitor added that he had told his client that ‘you can’t automatically take items from a skip’ and asked for a fine for a man ‘who had learned his lesson’.

Mr Hanratty also asked for the fine to be consolidated with a financial penalty from a previous conviction which magistrates agreed with.

Chairman of the bench, Nicholas Powell, told the defendant he was being fined.

He said: “We will deal with this by way of a financial penalty.

“We take into consideration your early guilty plea so we have reduced it to £400 from £600 with a victim surcharge of £160 with £85 costs with a total of £645.

“We will consolidate it with your current fine for a previous offence and you will continue to pay £100 a month.

“If you cannot afford it, come back to the court to discuss and do not, as we say, ‘bury your head in the sand’.”