Six in court for Westbury railway track theft (From Wiltshire Times)

Six in court for Westbury railway track theft

2:00pm Wednesday 13th June 2012 in Westbury

Six men have appeared in court charged with being involved in the theft of thousands of pounds of railway track.

The gang is accused of stealing 66 lengths of rail line, worth about £5,000, from the Trackwork depot in Westbury.

Three of the men are also accused of drawing up a fraudulent order form from PKS Services in the town.

The defendants are: Craig Chadwick, 43, of Bridge Court, Westbury; Martin Wrighthouse, 50, of Primrose Place, Westbury; Iain Bryers, 45, of Fell Road, Westbury; Stephen Page, 53, of Southampton; Daniel Bownes, 20, of Worksop, Nottinghamshire; and Melvyn Bownes, 49, of Worksop.

All six are accused of theft, but Chadwick, Wrighthouse, and Melvyn Bownes are also charged with perverting the course of justice by creating fake order forms.

The two sets of offences are said to have taken place a few days before Christmas last year.

No charges were formally put to the six men and they did not enter any pleas during the brief hearing at Swindon Crown Court on Friday last week.

Recorder Michael Vere-Hodge QC released all six men on unconditional bail and adjourned the cases against them until Friday, August 17.