Workmen duped into 'ripping up' track

Local workers were recruited to tear up the track

A conman persuaded workers to rip up two miles of track from a disused rail line on Wearside.

Police say it will cost millions to repair the damage caused when more than 300 tonnes was taken from the line near Sunderland.

A conman posed as a businessman and recruited local labour to gather steel from the disused line at Penshaw, near Sunderland.

Local residents believed they were genuine rail staff who were working on the track and watched as the stretch of line was ripped out.

Man traced

British Transport Police were alerted a few days later by railway contractor Jarvis and saw a group of around 10 men on the site.

Officers arrested three men at the scene and have traced the man behind the scam to the Yorkshire area although he remains at large.

Detective Sergeant Alan Darlington said British Transport Police were following up a number of "promising leads".

He said there were plans to re-open the line, which has been mothballed for 13 years, as a freight line and the track had been kept in a "viable condition".

He said: "From an environmental point of view it would have been an asset.

'Local lads'

"The scrap would have been worth a few thousand pounds, once the men were paid off, and no doubt it would cost millions to put back."

Mr Darlington said five people altogether had now been arrested.

He added: "We haven't spoken to them all but three of them were local lads and they appear to have been genuinely taken in.

"Local companies were contacted and there were agreements to hire JCB diggers.

"We think it is somebody with knowledge of the railways, after all, it is a bit out of the way."