THEFT on an ‘industrial scale’ from British Telecom during their national fibre optic broadband roll out was conducted by companies in and around Wootton Bassett, with more than £2.5m in cash laundered by the thieves, a court heard.

Companies in Wootton Bassett including Telkom International Ltd were investigated by Wiltshire Police after a suspicious test purchase on August 3, 2011.

The investigations unravelled a ‘clever and sophisticated’ operation in which tonnes of goods destined for the fibre optic roll out would be delivered to an industrial estate in Bassett, disguised, and sold on, it is alleged.

Bristol Crown Court heard today that millions of pounds would then pass through a forged system of documents on an audit trail, before being withdrawn in cash by company accountants and simply disappearing.

Nicholas Haggan, prosecuting, told the jury: “As the investigation proceeded it became clear that a number of individuals had put in place a clever and sophisticated system to steal property from the BT supply chain.

“We are not talking about the odd roll of cable when nobody was looking. This was theft on an industrial scale over a lengthy period of time.

“The thieves had an inside man. He was a store man working for one of BTs centres in Chelmsford. He was able to place orders with BT for equipment for use in BT network installation. BT made no charge for this equipment, and the store man took full advantage of that. He helped himself to whatever he wanted.

“Arrangements were then made for delivery to Wootton Bassett.

“Such was the scale of the thefts the stolen goods would be collected in lorries with an 18 tonne capacity.

"We know of at least 32 lorries that were used for this purpose, and there must have been others.

“There was never any paperwork with the deliveries. Once at Wootton Bassett, employees would remove any BT identifying marks from the goods.”

The court heard how many of the companies involved had large amounts of money transferred between themselves, up to around £480,000, for no apparent reason. The accountants and directors of many of the companies were the same.

A number of the companies then had the money withdrawn in cash, often from a Natwest cash machine in the east end of London, where the money trail would vanish, the Crown say.

“The thefts were disguised in a mountain of paperwork to make it look legitimate,” added Mr Haggan.

“The amounts involved are significant indeed. Over a two year period, a sum in excess of £1,980,000 was drawn from the bank account of one company in cash.”

The court was told the thefts and subsequent money laundering was only made possible after BT contracted out its Open Reach fibre optic broadband roll out on October 9, 2009.

The winning bidder was Carillion Telent, to whom BT provided equipment free-of-charge in the £500m contract.

Ronald Porter, who had worked in their Chelmsford supply depot for 11 years before the contract, was responsible for the thefts and delivery of goods to Bassett, the prosecution say.

“This was a joint venture tasked with maintaining the BT network across the UK, working with BT to install the fibre optic network,” said Mr Haggan.

“Under the terms of the contract, Carillion Telent arranged to deliver support and maintenance services, and BT agreed to provide a wide range of materials to enable them to carry that out.

“The equipment would be delivered to depots, one of which was in Chelmsford. The store man responsible for that depot was Ronald Porter.”

Stephen Smith, 60, of Hook, Jana Smith, 36, of Grange Park, and Ronald Porter, 52, of Essex, are charged with conspiracy to steal telecommunications equipment from BT between September 2009 and August 2011, to a value unknown.

The Smiths, along with Philip Woodcraft, 57, of Ross-on-Wye, are further charged with two counts of conspiracy to conceal, disguise, convert or transfer criminal property relating to dealings with Telekom International Ltd, The Comms and CATV Supply Company Ltd, Heritage Services Ltd, and Eness Technology Ltd between November 2006 and August 2011.

Karen Allen, 59, and Robert Tennant, 47, both of Coventry are charged alongside Stephen Smith with conspiracy to conceal criminal property relating to dealings with The Telcom Store Ltd, Telkom International, and The Comms and CATV Supply Company between July 2003 and August 2011.

Two further counts of conspiracy to conceal criminal property are levelled against Woodcraft, John Cooper, 45, of Dagenham, and Mark Stanton, 49, of Romford, between August 2010 and April 2012, relating to Heritage Services Ltd, J.C. Waste Management and Recycling Ltd, Office Recycling Ltd and MS Telecommunication and Recycling Ltd.

All eight defendants deny the charges and the trial, expected to last until Christmas, continues.