Man purporting to be a telecoms engineer arrested on suspicion of theft in Hythe

A New Forest man purporting to be carrying out ‘scheduled’ maintenance works on behalf of telecoms companies BT and Virgin Media has been arrested following an incident in Hythe.

BT Open Reach’s security team reported a ‘possible cable theft’ at around 2am this morning (Monday 12 August) following an activation of an alarm placed upon a manhole cover at Butts Bridge on Hill Road in Hythe after it had been subsequently lifted.

Officers were deployed to the scene and located approximately 100m of cable on a nearby path which had been seemingly pulled from within the cover. The cable was seen to be leading to a car parked a short distance up the road.

Officers spoke directly to a man who as part of their enquiries into the matter suggested that he was carrying out sub-contracting works in the area but was awaiting support from colleagues. However, further enquiries later showed that neither BT or Virgin had any scheduled works due to take place in the local area at that time.

As a result, a 33-year-old man from Ashurst was arrested on suspicion of theft and his vehicle seized for the purpose of aiding the ongoing investigation.

He remains in custody at this time.