A POLICE helicopter was scrambled when balaclava-clad men were caught trying to smash their way into a farm building at Stretham. The three men used tools to cut a two-foot square hole into a breeze block wall at Trulink Ltd at Willow Farm in Wilburton Ro

A POLICE helicopter was scrambled when balaclava-clad men were caught trying to smash their way into a farm building at Stretham.

The three men used tools to cut a two-foot square hole into a breeze block wall at Trulink Ltd at Willow Farm in Wilburton Road.

The incident was caught on CCTV at the farm, Ely magistrates were told, and the burglars ran off when police arrived on the scene.

"They went to Willow Farm with the purpose of theft, they accept that," solicitor Ian Lewis told the court.

"They went to see if there was something to make them a financial gain if they were lucky, or a bail of hay for their ponies."

A rear wall of an outbuilding had been cut on a previous occasion, and had been replaced.

"They assumed the new breeze blocks would be weaker than the rest of the wall," said Mr Lewis.

"CCTV shows the defendants working for about five minutes on the new wall with a metal bar.

"They made a hole in the wall two-feet across, then a police presence arrived in the form of a helicopter, the owner had contacted the police and the three ran away.

"Entry was not gained to the building; there was no substantive loss or harm to the owner of the premises, beyond the need to repair his wall again."

Albert Smith, 31, of Common Road, Potton; Tom Smith, 29, of Scholes Road, Willingham; and Walter Smith, 25, of Cambridge Road, St Neots, all admitted attempted burglary.

Magistrates warned the men they could be facing jail, and adjourned sentencing until February 19.