Cable thief who acted out shock killed by 8,000 volts

Ryan Woolams, 16, “paid the ultimate price” when he was hit by an electric shock while trying to steal cable from an electricity sub-station at Skelton Grange in Stourton, Leeds, an inquest heard.

The hearing heard the teenager had pretended to be receiving an electric shock to his onlooking friends just moments before 8,000 volts ran through his body, stopping his heart and killing him instantly.

Ryan, of Sixth Avenue in Rothwell, Leeds had been out with three friends on the afternoon of July 3 last year when he entered the site of a demolished former power station near his home looking to steal cable.

The inquest heard that after removing bolts from a security plate Ryan, the youngest of four brothers, accessed an earthing pit in the ground and began to remove a copper support rod from the cables below.

The cables were still connected to the national system and were classed as high voltage with as much as 132,000 volts running through them.

When Ryan removed the rod and touched one of outer cable sheaths it sent a massive surge running through his body, at the most around 8,000 volts, which killed him and started a fire in the pit.

His death was confirmed at the scene by paramedics.

Ryan’s friend Anthony Ward, who was with him at the time, said in a statement that just before he died Ryan was “mucking about a bit and actually pretended to have an electric shock”.

He said he then saw his friend start to shake and a 4ft blue flame come out of the pit before Ryan slumped against the pit side and stopped moving.

When asked by West Yorkshire Coroner David Hinchliff if he knew Ryan was, in fact, dead Anthony replied “yes”.

All three friends left the site to get help, and a security guard who had seen the smoke while on patrol and found Ryan’s body, called the police.

It came to light during the inquest that Ryan had received electric shocks twice before when stealing copper, one of which had apparently thrown him across a room.

As well as the metal plate, the pit had been protected by a one-and-a-half tonne block of concrete that would have been on top of the cover.

However, the hearing was told the block had been moved aside at an earlier point.

The concrete block was marked with warning signs and there were high voltage signs around the site as well as regular patrols by guards – but the large area could be accessed relatively easily.

Speaking at Wakefield Coroner’s Court yesterday Mr Hinchliff asked Detective Constable Damian Hunt whether he was in no doubt Ryan and his friends “went to the site with the sole intention of finding copper cable they would use for financial gain”.

Det Con Hunt replied: “Yes, that’s right.”

Mr Hinchliff said: “All four agreed to steal any copper wire inside and share the spoils.

“But very sadly Ryan paid the ultimate price didn’t he?”

Speaking before passing a verdict of death by misadventure, the coroner emphasised the large scale problem of copper theft.

“There is very rarely a day when we don’t read or hear on the news that the whole railway network in certain areas has been left stranded because of cable theft or the like.

“But what happened on this occasion is a national problem,” he said.

Mr Hinchliff added that people are entering premises and taking copper illegally “with the sole desire of stealing the cable because of its high price and turning it into cash”.

The inquest heard that Ryan was due to start a new job collecting scrap metal the day after he died and was in good spirits when he left the house.

He had reminded his mother to wake him for work in the morning.