Thief Uses Google Earth to Steal Lead Roofs
(No user rating) (from http://www.itproportal.com/portal/news - 16 March 2009)Thief steals £100,000 of lead with aid of Google Earth
In an incident which further sparked concerns over the misuse of Google Earth application for felonious purposes, a thief stole lead worth a whopping £100,000 from the roofs of the buildings, by using the application to get the detailed view of these listed buildings.
The builder from Sutton, used the Google Earth application, which offers detailed aerial images of places across the globe, to search out various listed buildings, including churches, schools, and museums, that could be ransacked for lead.
He used the application to figure out lead roofs with their darker colours, and made £44,500 by selling around 44.6-tonnes of lead during his six months long spree, which started from September to February.
The roofs of
The court was told that the thief along with his accomplices, meticulously planned the thefts, as he went to site equipped with the necessary equipment, such as ladders and abseiling ropes, to plunder the roofs, and even stole a car to make a speedy escape.
