April 26, 2007
ONE step at a time, or one piece at a time. But this man's dream went one-piece too far. He was caught stealing a £pounds;1m ($3m) yacht, part-by-part, literally.
A British court was told yesterday how, over 7years, James Light, 35, stole hundreds of components belonging to his employer, luxury boat builder Sunseeker, in the hope of building a dream boat.
According to The Times, he accumulated parts worth £pounds;55,000, including electrical components, a 1.2m radar mast, widescreen television, lifting straps and sternlights.
They were carefully stored in a lockup garage in Bournemouth, England.
Most of the stolen items were for the luxury 16m-long motoryachts that Light worked on - normally the preserve of film stars, Formula One racing drivers and Russian oligarchs.
The Bournemouth Crown Court was told that Light was caught when a DVD player was found in his toolbox.
He had yet to start building the yacht.
ADMITTED TO CHARGES
Although Light claimed he had obtained the parts legitimately from a third party, he admitted charges of theft and handling stolen goods.
Detective Inspector Jez Noyce said: 'Through an investigation at his home, we found a rented lockup garage. There were over 100 boxes of items believed to be from Sunseeker.
'I have no idea how someone managed to sneak all these items past security at Sunseeker, especially a 1.2m radar pole and a large television.'
The prosecution said that Light had worked at Sunseeker for 11 years and was employed as an electrical engineer.
He was caught in Sep 2005. A spokesman for Sunseeker said they had sacked Light.
Light admitted to 17 counts of handling stolen goods and two counts of theft. He also admitted cultivating cannabis and possessing Ecstasy tablets, cocaine and cannabis.
He was sentenced to 12 months in prison, which was suspended for two years, and ordered to do 200hours of community service.
