A THIEF has been up before the magistrates after stealing building materials in Herefordshire.

Dylan Young entered a guilty plea to one count of theft when he appeared before magistrates in December.

The court heard from prosecutor Ms Hussain that the 27-year-old had stolen building materials from a business in Herefordshire on September 25, 2022.

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The theft, from Ilke Homes Ltd, involved wooden boards worth between £400 and £500, magistrates in Walsall were told.

The company, which is based in North Yorkshire has worked in Herefordshire, having been contracted by Stonewater, one of the county’s largest social housing operators, to deliver 120 homes at the former Holmer Trading Estate off College Road to the north of the city.

But in June the modular homes supplier, with staff of over 1,000, went into administration. A report by administrator AlixPartners in September put its outstanding debts at nearly £320 million, including £68 million owed to Government agency Homes England.

Young, who was represented at the hearing by defence solicitor Gurdeep Gill, and who is of Warston Avenue in Birmingham, was fined £350 for the offence, with magistrates saying they had taken his guilty plea into account when imposing the penalty.

He was also ordered to pay prosecution costs of £185 and a £140 victim surcharge, which is used to help fund services supporting victims of crime.