Nuclear Incident - No One Hurt

"It was made clear at Essex Quarter Sessions, Chelmsford, last week, that there was nothing sinister behind the theft of 20 fuel elements from Bradwell Nuclear Power Station and they were not destined for a foreign power. Before the court in respect of the disappearance of the uranium rods, valued at £8000 were Harold Arthur Sneath, 35, a rigger of Katonia Ave, Maylandsea, and Dennis Patrick Hadley, 37, a decorator, of Dyson Rd, Edmonton. Sneath pleaded guilty to breaking and entering a store at the Central Electricity Generating Board at Bradwell and stealing the elements, and Hadley admitted receiving them. They were each bound over for five years in the sum of £100 and ordered to share the costs of the prosecution.
OPENED STORE
Prosecuting, Mr. Michael Hill said, at the time of the offence Sneath was employed at the power station. With the use of a key, and having made some prior arrangement with Hadley, opened the fuel element store and transported the elements away in a van. On November 19, police officers in the North Circular Road saw a van driven by Hadley, the steering of which appeared to be defective. The vehicle was stopped and the elements were found inside. Hadley told the officers he was taking them to someone who would buy them for scrap. Later, Sneath was seen and he made a full confession to the police. Det. Supt. S Bradbery, of the Metropolitan Police, said both men were of previous good character, and both were the fathers of four children. Defending Sneath, Lord Stormont said the fact that these were uranium rods adds an air of glamour to the whole crime. But there was nothing sinister involved, and it was quite obvious that these two men hadn’t the faintest idea of the consequences."

From the Burnham on Crouch and Dengie Hundred Advertiser, February 1967. There was also an announcement of someone's marriage but this seemed far more interesting.