THREE men who together made more than £326,000 from the thefts of agricultural vehicles were made to pay back just £1 each.

Cardiff Crown Court heard that Gareth Gibbings, 41, Lee Melhuish, 32, and Daniel Cameron, 34, stole farm equipment and electrical cables, benefiting them to the tune of £326,778.

Gibbings, of Fields Road, Cwmbran, made £66,416, Melhuish, of Penyparc, Pontnewydd, made £85,601, and Cameron, of South Avenue, Pontypool, made £174,761, but as they have no assets they were made to repay a nominal fee of £1.

This was paid at a Proceeds of Crime hearing on Tuesday.

The men are currently serving prison sentences after being convicted of a string of offences last year.

The group were due to stand trial last September when it was alleged they were involved in six burglaries and a theft between January and July 2010.

This included the alleged theft of an IforWilliams trailer belonging to Michael Hayward, a burglary at Castle Garage, Raglan, where they were said to have taken trailers and agricultural equipment and another burglary at Cwmffrwdoer Football Club, where it was alleged they took a singleaxle trailer.

Other alleged offences included a burglary at the Old Brickworks, Little Mill, where an Ifor Williams trailer was taken, a burglary at Arvans Civil Engineering, Aberbeeg, where an excavator and trailer went missing, and a burglary at Wern Garn, Pontypool, where an excavator and trailer were stolen.

The men later admitted some of the crimes before the trial and the remaining charges were not pursued.

Gibbings admitted three counts of burglary, while Cameron admitted two counts of handling stolen goods, one count of conspiracy to steal and two counts of disguising criminal property.

They were both sentenced to three and a half years in jail.

Melhuish received a 21-month sentence after admitting two counts of conspiracy to steal and three counts of disguising criminal property.