‘Malicious’ cable cut in Partridge Green

BT said the company had ‘suffered malicious cuts’ to three cables, knocking out services to 55 homes in the area and causing damage valued at more than £1,000.

A spokesperson for BT said: “We have suffered malicious cuts to underground cabling to underground cabling which is affecting service in the area.

“Engineers are onsite and will be working around the clock to bring in replacement cabling and then to connect those affected onto the new cable. We have had 55 reported faults associated with this incident.

“It is extremely regrettable when BT suffers this kind of third party damage to its network. Our priority is always to restore services to those people affected as quickly as possible, which is what we will be doing. We are hoping to have restored full service by the end of today (Friday October 14).”

The incident is believed to have taken place around 10pm, shortly after faults were reported to BT.

A spokeswoman from Horsham Police said: “The lines were cut but they couldn’t remove the box.

“We are taking preventative measures to deter any more acts of copper stealing.”

The extra precautions come as a result from a copper theft spate earlier this year - ‘an operation which involved units from across the district and was a big thing to try and halt’, say police.

Anyone with information can contact Sussex Police on 0845 60 70 999 quoting serial number 0420 12/10/11.