BROAD Town was plunged into darkness by metal thieves for the second time in a week.

Thieves stole copper cables from a generator powering around 60 homes in the village early on Wednesday morning.

The second power cut came the day after the Adver reported a previous theft at the Southern Electric run generator at the bottom end of the village.

Villager David Taylor said: "They have done it again.

"They have taken 100 metres of cables and the power was off most of the night.

"We were in bed by the time it happened, but I went up there to see what was going on.

"I spoke to the engineers and the police had been called out.

"They said about 100 metres had been taken.

"If that generator is there much longer I'm sure they'll come out and take it again.

"The generator is at the bottom end of the village. There is another one at the top end but they don't seem to be bothering with that because it can be seen from the road.

"But the cables from this one reach about 11m into the fields. The wires are about an inch thick and it is pretty heavy stuff. It must have been quite a job taking it away."

Last week Wiltshire Police launched Operation Herald to clamp down on metal theft.

A special team of officers will work to stop gangs believed to be responsible for stealing valuable metal, including gas pipes, copper and bronze statues and even church lightning conductors.

Southern Electric spokesman Julian Reeves said: "They have stolen a length of cable again on Wednesday morning, disturbing the supply to customers.

"It is the same customers as the last time, leaving about 60 to 63 homes without power.

"They were without power until about 6.45am on Wednesday.

"Unfortunately there is not much that can be done to stop it unless people sit out there all night.

"These thefts do show the increase in frequency of this type of crimes, due to rising metal prices.

"We will have engineers in the area until the end of the week when the generators stop being used. And the police are aware of the situation.

"We would ask local residents to keep their eyes open and inform the police of anything suspicious, although we are aware there may not be many people around at that time in the morning in this isolated location."