A British man faces jail after being nabbed with a mountain of stolen Cadbury Creme Eggs.
Joby Pool will be sentenced in March on two charges of theft and another of criminal damage after being caught by police, surrounded by 200,000 of the foil-wrapped chocolate treats at the weekend.
Pool, 32, has admitted using a stolen truck with false plates to snatch a trailer containing the eggs – worth about $54,000 – from an industrial unit in Telford, north-west of Birmingham.
Kidderminster Magistrates’ Court heard on Wednesday that Pool used a metal grinder to cut through the gates of an industrial unit and hitch up the trailer laden with chocolate eggs and other sweet treats.
A chase ensued, with West Mercia Police in hot pursuit after what they described as “an eggs-travagant theft”.
“Shortly after the theft, a vehicle, presumably purporting to be the Easter bunny, was stopped northbound on the M42 and a 32-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of theft,” they wrote on Facebook – noting that the officers had “helped save Easter”.
Prosecutor Owen Beale told the court plenty of planning had obviously gone into the Creme Egg heist.
“This clearly wasn’t spur-of-the-moment offending, if I can put it like that, because he had taken with him a tractor unit and he had to know that the load was there in the first place,” prosecutor Owen Beale told the court.
“It’s clearly a leading role and it’s clearly significant planning.”
Pool’s plans started to fall apart when police caught up with him.
“He gave up at junction 11 and walked towards the police with his hands up – he was arrested and the load was recovered,” Mr Beale said.
Pool’s lawyer John McMillan said the 32-year-old stopped the stolen truck when “he realised that the game was up.
“He realised the police were behind him and pulled in when it was safe to do so,” he said.
“Everything [stolen] had been recovered and that will no doubt assist the owners of the various items that have been taken.
“There has been no interference with the food products that were taken – they will be in a condition that they can go back on the shelves.”
Police weren’t the only ones happy with the Creme Egg caputre.
Shropshire Fire and Rescue Service’s Market Drayton station declared it “egg-cellent work by all involved”. Others were less impressed.
“What a yolk,” wrote one Facebook user on the police post.
Pool is expected to be jailed for two years when he next faces court on March 14.
-with agencies
