TWO men have appeared in court after stealing hundreds of pounds worth of cable from a railway line.

Gheorghe Pongori, of William Street in Ravensthorpe, and Ioan Singerean, of Grosvenor Street in Dewsbury, appeared before Kirklees magistrates.

The Hungarian-born men both admitted trespassing on the railway and stealing £500 worth of cable.

Pongori, 25, also pleaded guilty to stealing £200 of cable from the lines on a previous date and driving without a licence or insurance.

Magistrates were told that the cable was stolen from the railway line running into Huddersfield.

Paul Ramsay, prosecuting, said that on October 5 police attended Wilkinson’s metal recycling in Dewsbury.

They were conducting a scrap metal dealer check, magistrates were told.

Mr Ramsay said that the officers noticed a large quantity of burned copper cable on the weighing machine.

The owner was writing out an invoice to Singerean, 24.

Magistrates were told that the cable was the same as that used by Network Rail.

When quizzed about the theft, Singerean initially claimed that he had got it from an unknown Hungarian male.

Mr Ramsay said: “The officer asked if the cable was stolen, to which the reply was: ‘Yes, it’s from a choo-choo’.

“He then showed officers where he stole it from and took them to Hall Lane at Thornhill to the railway line which runs to Huddersfield.

“Officers noticed troughing, which encases the cable, had been removed at several locations for over half a mile.

“From this officers noticed cable had been cut.

“There were 20 metres missing from each point and a total of 100 metres of cable had been stolen.”

Police discovered that Pongori had used a Vauxhall Vectra which he had no valid licence or insurance for, to transport the cable.

Officers also identified him as being responsible for a similar cable theft on September 3.

Both men claimed that they stole the cable for financial reasons.

Magistrates told them that their actions had caused disruption to the railways.

They ordered their case to be adjourned so that a full pre-sentence report can be prepared.

The men will be sentenced on November 20.