Burglars leave Toowoomba businesses thousands of dollars out of pocket

One of two men who stole two cement trucks from a Toowoomba business has walked from court without having to pay compensation.

This cement truck stolen from Neil Mansell Concrete in Toowoomba was found burnt out near Kingsthorpe.

BUSINESS owners and workers of two companies in Toowoomba are livid that a 23-year-old man who cost their workshops hundreds of thousands of dollars and the job of one employee has walked free from court without having to pay any compensation.

Bradley James Walker, 23, pleaded guilty to his role in the burglary of Wolff Power from which $50,000 in specialist tools were stolen during a break-in with a co-offender in February.

He also pleaded guilty to stealing one of two cement trucks worth $150,000 each from Neil Mansell Concrete the same night.

One of the cement trucks was found burnt out near Kingsthorpe the next day while the other truck was taken on a joy ride from Toowoomba to Kingsthorpe and back to Toowoomba and on to Warwick and back to Allora where it ran out of fuel.

“The truck had a GPS tracker so we were able to track where that truck had gone,” said Neil Mansell Concrete area manager Shane Smith.

“They got bogged near Clifton and some farmers helped them out but then they drove to Warwick and back to Allora.

“I got a call from Allora police to say our truck was on the side of the road with its hazard lights on after it ran out of fuel so I had to go pick it up.

“They had stolen stuff from the truck and with the damage it cost about $6000 to fix and it was off the road for a couple of weeks.

“I went out to Kingsthorpe to find the other truck burnt out and it was burnt to the ground.

“We haven’t replaced that truck so the driver of that vehicle lost his job.

“And this bloke (Walker) walks free without having to pay any compensation.

“Those trucks are worth $150,000 each and the Wolff Group are down a heap as well.

The court heard Walker was not held responsible for the torching of the truck at Kingsthorpe.

He was sentenced to 14 months in jail, but having spent 93 days in pre-sentence custody, he was released on parole and ordered to pay $1200 compensation which arose from unrelated offences.

The Chronicle could not find out what happened to the other accused or whether he has even been charged.

Mr Smith had security footage of the pair committing the offences including a video posted to social media of the duo in the stolen truck bogged near Clifton.

An angry Colin Dennis of Wolff Power said one kit of specialist tools taken from the company’s shed was worth $18,000 alone.

The company had lost more than $50,000 in the break-in.

“We had to pay the first $25,000 excess (insurance) plus the loss of revenue because without those tools we couldn’t complete some contracts,” he said.

“It took about seven weeks to replace those tools and now we’ve had to install extra security cameras and lights at the place.”