Police arrest suspected thief claiming to be telecoms engineer after cable pulled from ground on Butts Bridge Hill in Hythe

POLICE arrested a suspected thief claiming to be a telecoms engineer after about 100 metres of cable was pulled from the ground on a Hythe street.

Open Reach’s security team alerted officers to a possible cable theft around 2am yesterday (Monday) after an alarm was activated on a manhole cover on Butts Bridge Hill.

Arriving at the scene, they found the cover had been lifted and the length of cable having seemingly been pulled from within.

The cable had been placed on a nearby path, and they followed it to a car parked a short distance up the road.

This led them to a man, who purported to be carrying out “scheduled” maintenance works for BT and Virgin Media.

A Hampshire police spokesperson said: “Officers spoke directly to a man, who as part of their enquiries into the matter suggested that he was carrying out sub-contracting works in the area but was awaiting support from colleagues.

“However, further enquiries later showed that neither BT nor Virgin had any scheduled works due to take place in the local area at that time.”

A 33-year-old man from Ashurst was arrested on suspicion of theft and his vehicle was seized to aid the ongoing investigation.

He was later bailed until 12th November pending further enquiries.