Two people from Brighton have been jailed for stealing thousands of pounds from railway station ticket machines and causing more than £150,000 of damage.
Christopher Loccorriere, 40, of Chailey Road, Moulsecoomb, and Lisa Marchant, 34, of neighbouring Newick Road, admitted conspiring to steal when they appeared at Lewes Crown Court.
Loccorrierre was sentenced to 26 months in prison. Marchant was given an 18-month jail sentence.
They carried out their crimes in the Brighton and Hove area from August to October last year and were caught after an investigation by British Transport Police detectives.
The pair stole
They tried to steal from the ticket machine at Shoreham Station at 3.51am on 31 August but failed.
They also stole
They tampered with the ticket machine at Hassocks Station at 4.46am on 7 September but failed to steal any cash.
The pair struck again at stations that they had already targeted when they stole
Southern, the train operator, which runs the stations, spent £25,000 employing extra security guards to catch the crooks.
They were arrested while being monitored by security staff at Preston Park Station on 17 October and charged with the thefts.
The Crown Prosecution Service decided dropped the case against the duo so Southern’s security team and the British Transport Police worked together and, having sifted CCTV images conclusively, resubmitted the case.
As a result, the pair are now in prison.
When they were arrested, Locorriere and Marchant had tools and a crowbar with them.
Their homes were searched where officers found clothes that CCTV images showed the couple wearing when carrying out their crimes.
Typically the pair would use tools to force the door of the ticket machine open before taking the cash box from inside.
Southern’s losses, including the money stolen, the damage caused and the extra security required as a result of the thefts, were estimated at almost £180,000.
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