THREE men from the West Midlands were caught red-handed trying to steal thousands of pounds worth of wine from a lorry.

Police found cases of wine stacked up in the men's van which had been taken from the lorry parked in the Bay Bridges layby on the A346 near Marlborough.

The men all pleaded guilty to conspiring to steal cases of wine when they appeared at Kennet Magistrates Court in Devizes on Tuesday.

They were Darren Martin, 29, of Dick Shepherd Avenue, Tipton, Wayne Garrett, 26, of Hawthorn Road, Tipton, and Dean Smith, 23, of Phoenix Street, West Bromwich.

Magistrates adjourned the case for sentencing for pre-sentence reports to be drawn up and warned the men that they were considering sending them to prison.

The court heard that the lorry was carrying £75,000 worth of Brut sparkling wine. It had come from Avonmouth Docks and was on its way to a Majestic wine warehouse in Watford when the driver stopped at the Bay Bridges layby to sleep for the evening.

Rachael Hume, prosecuting, said the lorry was secure and the seal intact when the driver, a Mr Spencer, went to sleep in his cab.

At 1.20am on June 2 PC Geordie Foster and PC Ivor Noyce spotted the lorry and saw a 7.5 ton box van parked with its rear doors back to back with the lorry and they saw figures dressed in dark clothing milling around both vehicles.

Garrett and Smith were standing between the two vehicles and Martin was in the rear of the box van.

Mrs Hume said: "A large quantity of cases of wine, over £2,000 worth, was found stacked neatly in the box van and were part of the load of 2,100 cases from the lorry.

"The bolt and seal to the Mercedes lorry had been cut off with a tool and a search of the box van found a set of cutting equipment and a set of large bolt croppers."

She said the driver of the lorry was still asleep in his cab when the police arrested the men.

In interview all men denied forcing open the lorry and Garrett and Smith said there was another man who had recruited them who ran off when the police arrived. They refused to give the name of this other man.

The court heard that Martin, an unemployed mechanic, had previous convictions for burglary and theft. Garrett, who is unemployed, had previous convictions for theft and handling stolen goods while Smith, also unemployed, had no previous convictions.

Tim Hammick, defending, said: "It was a fairly unsophisticated crime.

"When they were interviewed by the police Mr Smith and Mr Garrett both said, independently, that there had been a fourth person involved who appeared to be the brains behind this.

"All three were offered £50 to do a job with no questions asked.

"They were the muscle to hump the stuff around. They were adamant that they didn't know who broke into the lorry."

He said Martin is married with four children and Smith is married with three children.

Garrett has a girlfriend and two children to support and was hoping to start a driving job soon.

Mr Hammick also said the van they had was a 3.5 ton van, not a 7.5 ton van.

Magistrates adjourned the case for sentence to July 19.