Directors of Wembley firm charged with kidnapping

Two brothers who are directors of a Wembley stadium subcontractor that is owned by an agency that provides hundreds of workers to the project have been charged with kidnapping.

Andrew Haygarth, 37, and Lee Haygarth, 29, directors of CBL Cable Contractors, are among five men and one youth accused of kidnapping a 30-year-old man in Hartlepool, Co Durham, last week.

CBL provides cabling services to Wembley through parent company, Beaver Management Services, one of the largest recruitment agencies in construction.

Cleveland police arrested the brothers and the other men last Tuesday after they allegedly found some men in a car park with the alleged victim, who is from Hartlepool.

The Haygarth brothers appeared at Hartlepool magistrates’ court last week, where they were charged with kidnapping. They were refused bail and have been remanded in custody. They were due to appear at Teesside Crown Court yesterday.

The brothers are directors of the medium-sized electrical contractor, CBL. The firm was given a contract in January last year to work on cabling at Wembley stadium. The brothers are also believed to be involved in running a number of pubs in Hartlepool.

CBL’s contract on Wembley is believed to be worth in the region of £10m. The firm is understood to have employed about 200 workers on the project, where it is involved in work to fit the cabling, terminations and electrical installations.

CBL is employed on the Wembley stadium project by agency BMS, which is owned by director Bernard Goodchild. BMS provides about 500 electricians to Wembley; it also provides labour for Heathrow Terminal 5.

Bernard Goodchild and CBL were unavailable for comment.

Four others have been charged with kidnap and have been remanded in custody. They are, Richard Hughes, 34, of Granville Avenue, Hartlepool; Jamie Jacobs, 18, of Ormesby Road, Hartlepool and Nigel Train, 37, of Kader Avenue, Middlesbrough. A 15-year-old, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was charged with kidnap and has been bailed.

A senior Multiplex source said the firm was unaware of the arrests. He said: “We are going to have to look into this.”

He added that it was unclear how the arrests would affect the project.

The arrests will come as a further blow to BMS, which came under fire from its Wembley workforce this week over pay.

Five hundred electricians threatened to walk out after claiming BMS had not agreed to pay them increased London wages, and have issued BMS with an ultimatum.