April 26, 2007
ONE step at a time, or one piece at a time. But this man's dream
went one-piece too far. He was caught stealing a ãpounds;1m
($3m) yacht, part-by-part, literally.
A British court was told yesterday how, over 7years, James Light,
35, stole hundreds of components belonging to his employer, luxury
boat builder Sunseeker, in the hope of building a dream boat.
According to The Times, he accumulated parts worth
ãpounds;55,000, including electrical components, a 1.2m radar
mast, widescreen television, lifting straps and sternlights.
They were carefully stored in a lockup garage in Bournemouth,
England.
Most of the stolen items were for the luxury 16m-long motoryachts
that Light worked on - normally the preserve of film stars, Formula
One racing drivers and Russian oligarchs.
The Bournemouth Crown Court was told that Light was caught when a
DVD player was found in his toolbox.
He had yet to start building the yacht.
ADMITTED TO CHARGES
Although Light claimed he had obtained the parts legitimately from
a third party, he admitted charges of theft and handling stolen
goods.
Detective Inspector Jez Noyce said: 'Through an investigation at
his home, we found a rented lockup garage. There were over 100
boxes of items believed to be from Sunseeker.
'I have no idea how someone managed to sneak all these items past
security at Sunseeker, especially a 1.2m radar pole and a large
television.'
The prosecution said that Light had worked at Sunseeker for 11
years and was employed as an electrical engineer.
He was caught in Sep 2005. A spokesman for Sunseeker said they had
sacked Light.
Light admitted to 17 counts of handling stolen goods and two counts
of theft. He also admitted cultivating cannabis and possessing
Ecstasy tablets, cocaine and cannabis.
He was sentenced to 12 months in prison, which was suspended for
two years, and ordered to do 200hours of community
service.
