UNDERCOVER police officers were told about an “opportunity” to steal plasma screen TVs during a scrapyard sting operation, a jury has heard.

Workers at Smiths of Bloxham also gave advice on how to avoid the police and bought a Mitsubishi sports car after they were told it was stolen, a barrister alleged.

The claims were made yesterday at Oxford Crown Court during the second trial in Thames Valley Police’s Operation Symphony.

John Law, prosecuting, told the jury that brothers Joey, 24, of Milton Road, Adderbury, and Tommy Smith, 36, of Bloxham Road, Bloxham, displayed “wilful blindness” by accepting cables and metal they suspected was stolen.

The two men deny seven charges of attempting to disguise, convert or conceal criminal property between January and May last year. It is alleged that on seven occasions they accepted “suspicious” metal from two undercover police officers posing as metal thieves – codenamed ‘Andy’ and ‘Kinger’ to protect their identities.

Mr Law said: “Their role was to go into the yards, in this case Smiths of Bloxham near Banbury, and try and sell scrap metal to them which we say by its appearance would arouse suspicion in an honest person.”

He said not only did the officers make frequent references to having stolen the goods they were selling, the defendants also acknowledged it themselves.

Mr Law said on one occasion Tommy Smith suggested to ‘Andy’ and ‘Kinger’ there was “the opportunity to steal TVs from a lock-up” in Chipping Norton.

On another visit to the yard, the barrister claimed Joey Smith advised the officers not to leave in a particular direction because the police were nearby.

The yard also paid £800 for metal which included a Mitsubishi FTO, a car described by the officers as “red hot” because it had recently been stolen from Wales, Mr Law said.

He told the jury this all pointed to the Smith brothers having a “cavalier attitude to the law”.

Mr Law added that there had been days when metal was rejected, but the comments made to the officers on these occasions showed the defendants still thought they were dealing with criminals.

When ‘Andy’ and ‘Kinger’ arrived with Scottish and Southern Energy cables, the barrister said Joey Smith said to them: “I’ve got one question for you – where is it robbed from?”

He told the jury that the defendants may try to argue that they were playing along to try to “trap” the officers, believing them to be criminals.

Joey Smith denies six counts and Tommy Smith denies one count.

The trial continues.