Thief who stole 200,000 Cadbury Creme Eggs is jailed for 18 months

Thief, 32, who used stolen lorry cab to make off with a trailer loaded with almost 200,000 Cadbury Creme Eggs worth £31,000 is jailed

  •  Joby Pool, 32, used a metal grinder to break into industrial unit in Telford
  •  Thief’s vehicle was stopped by police driving northbound on M42

A man who used a stolen lorry cab to make off with a trailer loaded with almost 200,000 Cadbury Creme Eggs before surrendering to police with his hands up has been jailed for 18 months. 

Joby Pool, 32, used a metal grinder to break into an industrial unit in Telford, Shropshire, on February 11, before driving off with assorted chocolate goods worth more than £31,000. 

At Shrewsbury Crown Court on Thursday, Pool, of Dewsbury Road, Tingley, near Leeds, was jailed by Judge Anthony Lowe for a year-and-a-half, with half of that to be spent in prison and the other half on licence. 

The six months he has already spent in custody will count towards the nine months behind bars. 

The court heard Pool had used a tractor unit which had been stolen in the Yorkshire area in October to tow away the trailer from an industrial unit belonging to SW Group Logistics in Stafford Park, Telford. 

Joby Pool was handed a jail sentence of 18 months after he admitted to stealing a lorry full of Cadbury Creme Eggs

Pool, 32, used a metal grinder to break into an industrial unit before driving off with the lorry full of chocolates

The haul of over 200,000 Cadbury Creme Eggs was estimated to be worth more than £31,000

The theft occurred at a unit belonging to SW Group Logistics in Stafford Park, Telford

The stolen chocolate was then driven onto the northbound M42, where Pool surrendered by walking towards police ‘with his hands up’ near junction 11, a court hearing previously heard. 

Pool, who appeared in the dock wearing a grey long-sleeved Adidas shirt on Thursday, had previously admitted theft, criminal damage to a lock at the trailer park and driving without insurance. 

500 million of the gooey eggs are produced every year, around two thirds of which are sold in the UK.

In a series of tweets posted two days after the theft, West Mercia Police explained how they ‘helped save Easter’ after foiling the thief. 

They said: ‘West Mercia Police has helped save Easter for Creme Egg fans after almost 200,000 of the chocolate treats were stolen from a unit in Stafford Park in Telford. 

‘The eggs-travagent theft took place on Saturday February 11 with the chocolate collection box thought to be worth around £40,000. 

‘Along with the Creme Eggs a number of other chocolate varieties were also stolen. 

‘Shortly after the theft a vehicle, presumably purporting to be the Easter bunny, was stopped northbound on the M42 and a man was arrested on suspicion of theft.’ 

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