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Wales Online
2 days ago
- Wales Online
Stolen van smashed through shop, but driver had already left trail of destruction
Stolen van smashed through shop, but driver had already left trail of destruction When Matthew Morgan ram-raided the shop he was on bail for breaking into a strong of vans and burgling a Spar shop and stealing £1,700 of cigarettes and vapes A man stole a van and smashed it through the front of a cycle shop causing around £180,000 worth of damage, a court has heard. The ram raid was the culmination of a spree of offending by Matthew Morgan which saw him damaging and breaking into a string of vehicles and burgling a shop stealing more then £1,700-worth of cigarettes and vapes. Swansea Crown Court heard Morgan has 85 previous offences on his record including burglaries, taking a vehicle without consent, theft from vehicles, and going equipped. Harry Dickens, prosecuting, said the spree of offending began on the weekend of March 29 to March 30 this year when Morgan broke into vans and lorries parked outside commercial garages and repair shops on Neath Road in the Landore area of Swansea. He said in total the defendant smashed his way into five vehicles parked outside the businesses taking items including tools, a stereo, and a TV. Morgan damages another three vehicles in his attempts to get inside. The court heard that the offending was discovered when staff at the garages turned up for work on the Monday morning, and the spree was reported to the police. CCTV recovered from the area showed a hooded male arriving and leaving the scene on a bicycle. An investigation was launched to try to identify the culprit. Matthew Morgan (Image: South Wales Police ) The prosecutor said Morgan struck again in the early hours of April 19 when he used an "implement" - likely a screwdriver - to "attack" the security shutters on the Spar shop on Conway Road in Penlan. Article continues below After gaining entry to the premises the defendant stole 76 vapes and 72 packets of cigarettes worth a total of £1,175 before making good his escape, again on a bicycle. The court heard police had been alerted to the on-going burglary and officers found the fleeing man near Penlan Social Club. Morgan ditched his bike and made off on foot but was chased and rugby tackled to the ground by an officer. The defendant subsequently pleaded guilty to the Spar burglary and was released on bail by magistrates pending a sentencing hearing. For all the latest court stores sign up to our crime newsletter The court heard Morgan's next offending happened on May 11 when he smashed the windows of vans belonging to a contract courier firm on Swansea West Business Park in Fforestfach and stole a VW Crafter van. Just before 1am the following morning the defendant used the van smash through the security shutters at the Uprise cycle store a short distance from the courier business. The court an angle grinder was used to try to cut through the metal railings around the car park before the can was simply reversed over then then repeatedly reverse-rammed into the shopfront. Matthew Morgan (driving) and an unknown female accomplice ram-raiding the Uprise bike shop in Fforestfach (Image: CPS Cymru ) The prosecutor said that once entry was gained Morgan and an as yet unidentified female accomplice tried to steal cycles from the showroom but found them chained together for security reasons. The pair managed to take two bikes - together worth some £10,000 - but then found the the ram raid had so damaged the doors of the van they couldn't open them to put the bikes inside. Eventually the pair made off on foot with the stolen bikes. The court heard a tracking device on one of the bikes was last detected "pinging" on Heol Gwyrosedd in Penlan but neither machine has been recovered. The prosecutor said the estimated cost of repairing the damage to the smashed cycle shop was up to £15,000 while bikes worth some £30,000 had been damaged as the intruders tried to steal them. Matthew Morgan and accomplice trying to steal bikes (Image: CPS Cymru ) The court heard Morgan was identified from CCTV by officers who know him. He answered "no comment" to questions asked in interview. Matthew Morgan, of Woodford Road, Blaenymaes, Swansea, had previously pleaded guilty to five counts of theft from a vehicle, three of attempted theft from a vehicle, two counts of burglary, theft of a vehicle, and criminal damage when he appeared in the dock for sentencing. He has 36 previous convictions for 85 offences including burglary, taking a vehicle without consent, theft from vehicles, and going equipped. The court heard Morgan's partner - 36-year-old Natalie Squibb of Pentregthin Road, Portmead - was charged with the bike shop burglary but the prosecution was not proceeded with. Andrew Evans, for Morgan, said the defendant's ultimate aim was to re-establish contact with his children, and he said he had been asked to invite the court to pass a sentence which allowed him to engage with agencies in the community. Judge Paul Thomas KC said not content with his spree of offending against commercial garages in Landore and burgling a Spar shop in Penlan, the defendant had then gone on to commit further offences while on bail. He told the defendant that while what happened during the ram raid "does not exactly make you the Professor Moriarty of crime" his offending had caused significant loss and stress for his victim. The judge said he had been invited to suspend the sentence that was due but said even if the sentence was one that was capable of being suspended - that is one of two years or less - the offending was too serious for him to consider that. Article continues below With discounts for his guilty pleas Morgan was sentenced to a total of 40 months in prison comprising 20 months for the Landore and Spar matters and 20 months for the Fforestfach offending to run consecutively. The defendant will serve up to half the sentence in custody before being released on licence to serve the remainder in the community.
Wales Online
6 days ago
- Wales Online
'Vital cogs' in UK crime gang caught by police at Welsh builders merchants
'Vital cogs' in UK crime gang caught by police at Welsh builders merchants The criminals who police intercepted had travelled 250 miles from Lancashire as part of a 'large-scale and well-organised criminal enterprise' Benjamin Poyton (Image: South Wales Police ) Members of a "large-scale and well-organised criminal enterprise" were caught by police in a builders merchants, a court has heard. The men - who had travelled more than 250 miles to the Swansea area - were part of a criminal network which was using bank details stolen from elderly victims to buy copper piping and other items from unsuspecting suppliers which it then quickly sold on for cash at scrap yards. A judge at Swansea Crown Court described Benjamin Poyton and Liam jones as "vital cogs" in the conspiracy, though the identity of those higher up the chain in the organised crime group remains unknown. When he travelled to Wales one of the defendants was being investigated for similar offending in London. Dean Pulling, prosecuting, told the court that between March 19 and March 26 this year a series of orders were placed with two building supply firms in Swansea and the Swansea Valley - LBS in Landore and JA Daly in Ystradgynlais - for thousands of pounds worth of copper tubes and nails in the names of a various companies. The goods were then collected by the defendants in vans. The prosecutor said in reality all the company names given when the orders were placed were bogus, and the card details used to make the payments over the phone had previously been stolen from elderly and vulnerable people around the UK. For the latest court reports sign up to our crime newsletter The court heard that when another order was placed with LBS on March 26 the manager became suspicious at what was going on and contacted the police who attended the premises and lay in wait for the order to be collected. When Poyton turned up to collect the order in a Citroen Berlingo van he was arrested, and his reply to being cautioned was "I knew I was running on thin ice". The officers seized the defendant's phone but he refused to reveal the PIN telling officers: "No, I would rather that than chance what I have on that." The court heard that later the same day another phone order was placed with LBS, and the unknown caller also checked whether the first one had been successfully collected - the manager of the firm "played along" and said everything was fine. The manager again alerted the police and when Jones attended in a VW Crafter van at just after 5pm he was arrested by waiting officers. Article continues below The court heard that when officers searched Poyton's van they found a receipt for £824 from EMR scrap yard in Roath Dock in Cardiff and when police checked CCTV from the metal business they saw Poyton dropping off copper pipes on March 18, 19, 20 and 21. Further checks showed the two defendants had been staying in a hotel in the Swansea area. The court heard that the total value of the fraudulently-obtained items was just under £10,000. Benjamin Poyton, aged 36, of Blackburn Road, Darwen, Blackburn, and 28-year-old Liam Jones, of Norfolk Street, Blackburn, had previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit fraud when they appeared in the dock for sentencing. Poyton had also previously pleaded guilty to driving otherwise than in accordance with a licence and driving without insurance while Jones had also previously pleaded guilty to driving while disqualified and driving with no insurance. Poyton has previous convictions for 28 offences including drugs, dishonesty, violence, and public disorder matters. Jones has no previous convictions but at the time of the Welsh offending was being investigated by City of London Police in relation to similar matters. The court heard that in January this year he was disqualified from driving as a "totter" after accumulating 12 points on his licence. Dan Griffiths, for Poyton, said the pre-sentence report detailed how the defendant was being paid £200 by others for each trip he made with the money going to discharge a drugs debt. He said his client was at pains to point out that he had not been involved in obtaining the bank details of the elderly victims nor in placing the orders with the builders merchants, and said while others had done those things the two men in the dock were the ones who had been "taking the risk" and collecting the goods. David Singh, for Jones, asked the court to take into account the defendant's lack of previous convictions, his previous military service, and his good work ethic. He said the father-of-four was concerned about being absent from his children and his partner, and said the reality was "there must have been others above him in the chain". Judge Paul Thomas KC told the defendants they had been part of a "large-scale and well-organised criminal enterprise" to use payments details stolen from elderly and vulnerable individuals to fraudulently obtain building materials which were quickly sold on. He said it had been a "wide-ranging conspiracy" and said while others not before the court had been involved Payton and Jones had been "vital cogs" in the operation. The judge said while there was nothing to distinguish the offenders in terms of their involvement in the offending they could be distinguished in terms of their previous convictions and the prospect of rehabilitation, though he noted Jones had taken part in the Welsh offending after being released under investigation by police in London. With 20 per cent discounts for their guilty pleas each defendant was sentenced to 14 months in prison - Poyton will have to serve his sentence immediately but Jones' sentence was suspended for 18 months and he was ordered to complete 200 hours of unpaid work and do a rehabilitation course. Article continues below Judge Thomas told Jones he had avoided immediate imprisonment "by the skin of your teeth" and he noted while the defendant said he was concerned about the impact on his children if he were to be sent to prison, he obviously hadn't been so concerned about them when he involved himself in the fraud.
