A HEROIN addict who convicted of handling 500 stolen memorial plaques from a Tameside cemetery has walked free from jail after serving half his sentence.

Paul Herrick, of Rydal Walk, Stalybridge, was arrested last August in connection with the theft of plaques valued at £146,500 from Dukinfield Crematorium.

The 41 year old tried to sell them to a scrapyard for cash but was caught when the owner became suspicious and called police.

Herrick pleaded guilty to handling stolen goods and was sentenced to a year in prison, but released on 11 February after serving six months.

Councillor John Taylor, whose late sister-in-law’s plaque was one of those stolen, has slammed Herrick’s early release as ‘disgusting’.

"At the time of his sentencing I thought it was totally inadequate," he said.

"It wasn’t so much the theft, it was the nature of the theft and the grief and heartache he caused to the hundreds and hundreds of people who had put those plaques there in memory of their loved ones.

"You can’t get much lower than what he did. To release him early is just disgusting. It’s not a proper punishment, it’s just the proverbial slap on the wrist and I think a lot of people will be very upset."

The majority of plaques were returned by police although some could not be rescued.

Herrick appeared in court on 13 March charged with stealing copper cabling worth £4,000 from a cable contractors in Audenshaw on 17 July last year.

Christopher Courtney, 28, of Adam Street, Ashton and Richard Fielding, 40, of Manchester Road, Audenshaw, are also charged with the same offence. They will re-appear before Tameside Magistrates on Thursday.