A gang of thieves who plundered a boatyard were arrested as they made their getaway on a three-mile-per-hour punt, a court was told.

The four “Fen pirates” broke into 16 boats in The Haven boatyard in St Ives, Cambridgeshire, and caused about £2,500 worth of damage before loading luxury electrical items on to their waiting punt, Huntingdon Magistrates’ Court was told.

They were arrested in the early hours of July 3 by police officers with night-vision goggles as they floated down the River Ouse on the flat-bottomed boat, which has a top speed of three miles per hour and is more usually found laden with students on the historic waterways of Cambridge.

The thieves had two flatscreen televisions, a DVD player, two electricity generators, a large amount of alcohol and a captain’s hat stashed on board.

James Parkinson, 26, from Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, and Khushmet Bardell, 22, and Rachel Helleur, 19, both from St Ives, pleaded guilty to two counts of theft and two counts of criminal damage. A 17-year-old, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was also arrested in connection with the thefts.

Helleur was ordered to complete 180 hours of unpaid work in the community and pay £450 in compensation to the boat owners. Parkinson and Bardell asked for 16 similar offences committed at the boatyard to be taken into consideration.

Magistrates decided to defer sentencing the pair and ordered a full pre-sentence report to be prepared for both men. They were released on bail and will appear again before magistrates for sentence on Thursday, August 6.

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