A LEAD thief was caught after he was spotted by the police helicopter as he lay flat on the roof of a primary school.

David Speak and accomplice Karl Dymott were trying to steal lead from the roof of Sunning Hill Primary School when they were spotted and arrested, Bolton Crown Court was told yesterday.

Speak, aged 35, of Alston Street, Great Lever, was sentenced to 120 days in prison, suspended for 18 months for the lead theft and, while on bail for the offence, handling stolen goods taken in a house burglary.

He had pleaded guilty to both charges and admitted breaching three community orders.

Denise Fitzpatrick, prosecuting, told Recorder Peter Cowan how scaffolding had been put up around the Daubhill school as workmen replaced the building’s roof.

But on July 8 Speak and Dymott climbed the scaffolding and spent three hours gathering lead worth £150 from the roof, ready to be pushed off the building and taken away in a wheelie bin.

“Had it been raining the damage to the school would have been great,” said Miss Fitzpatrick.

But an eagle-eyed neighbour became suspicious and called police.

The roofers replaced the stripped lead as a gesture of goodwill.

While on bail for the theft Speak was stopped by police in Lever Edge Lane on August 1 as he was carrying a laptop and a wallet containing necklaces and earrings, which he claimed belonged to his daughter.

In fact the jewellery and computer had been stolen from a retired couple’s bungalow a few days earlier while they were away on holiday.

The court heard that, until 10 years ago, Speak had no criminal record, but since then has accumulated 20 convictions for 40 offences.

Andrew Costello, defending, said the last two years have been difficult for Speak, as he has struggled with drug, accommodation and relationship problems.

Speak will now be supervised for 18 months and must pay an £80 victim surcharge.

“I want you to know that if you don’t get control of your life and stop offending, you will be locked up,” Recorder Cowan said.

Dymott, aged 39, of Glenburn Street, Great Lever, was given a 12 week curfew at an earlier hearing at Bolton magistrates court after pleading guilty to theft.