A FATHER-OF-FOUR who broke into the construction site of West Dorset District Council’s new offices in Dorchester and stole £7,000 of piping and brass fittings has been jailed for 25 weeks.

Shane Fields, 29, appeared at Dorchester Crown Court after pleading guilty to the burglary at the Charles Street site on the night of March 27.

Prosecutor Jennie Rickman told the court that builders working on the new offices had been fitting pipe work during the day and arrived at work the following morning to find the pipes they had fitted had been ripped out and a number of brass fittings had also been taken.

She said the total value of the piping and brass fittings was around £7,000, with the total cost of the burglary, including the damage caused and the replacement of the work, £11,755.

Miss Rickman said crime scene investigators found blood in one of the toilets on the third floor, which was later matched to the defendant.

She said: “In interview with police he admitted the offence, he said he had been out drinking and when passing the premises decided to go in.

“He admitted ripping out the pipe work and fittings and selling them on for £300, although he would not say to who.”

Fields also admitted cutting himself on some of the piping while carrying out the burglary.

The court was told Fields had 19 previous convictions for 34 offences, including convictions for burglary and theft.

Nick Robinson said his client, whose address was given to the court as Piddlehinton Camp, Dorchester, had four children aged six to 11, who would also suffer at the prison sentence he accepted was ‘inevitable’.

He added that the burglary had been ‘opportunistic’ and Fields had made full admissions to the offence.

As he sentenced him to 25 weeks in prison, Judge Roger Jarvis told Fields: “In this town there are a large number of significant building enterprises currently being undertaken and the temptation for many people will be very strong. Very few apparently succumb to that temptation but you did.

“The damage and the loss that you have caused them has been considerable.”