A former electricity engineer is believed to have illegally supplied power to more than 1,500 addresses in a scam lasting years.

Derek Brown, 45, from Tottenham, London, was yesterday handed an eight-month suspended sentence and 150 hours community service for criminal damage offences at Wood Green Crown Court.

Police also seized £28,000 cash in a raid on his home. It will be taken into account in a confiscation hearing under the Proceeds of Crime Act later this month.

Brown resigned from EDF Energy in 2002. He was arrested in July 2008 after police received a report of a man in a hole tampering with the electricity supply in a South Tottenham street.

In his van, police found a a "substantial amount" of EDF property including a uniform, and three ledgers detailing every address he illegally supplied electricity to since leaving the firm.

DC Kerry Burgess of Haringey CID said: "In many cases we believe that Brown was carrying out work for houses being converted into flats and splitting the connection from the mains in order to allow each property to have a separate supply.

"The landlords claimed that they weren't aware because the work had been arranged by contractors, who now have the inconvenience of having to arrange for the illegal services to be removed and new services to be properly and safely installed." ®