Men travelled to Wales to carry out ‘planned and professional’ van raids
A man from Worcestershire made trips to mid and west Wales to break into vans and steal thousands of pounds of tools while wearing a GPS tracker ankle tag, a court has heard.
Aston Amos and his co-defendant Robbie Bate broke into tradesmen's vans from Builth Wells and Brecon[1] to Newcastle Emlyn in a series of night time thefts taking tools worth around GBP13,000 and booking into a Welsh hotel along the way. Advertisement Advertisement
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A judge at Swansea Crown Court[2] described the cross-border raids as a "planned and professional" job and said there was "little more cruel" than taking the tools which honest, hard-working people need to earn a living.
The court heard that in July this year Dyfed-Powys Police received a series of reports of vans being broken into and tools being stolen at locations across Powys and Carmarthenshire[3], with the thefts being committed on the nights of Thursday, July 17 and Thursday, July 24. A large number of items were taken in the thefts.
The court heard that police began to search CCTV footage and identified a black Audi A4 car as being a vehicle of interest.
Detectives then used automatic number plate recognition cameras to track its journeys from the west Mercia area to Wales and back. Inquiries led to a hotel in St Clears where Amos had booked a room and registered the number plate of the Audi. Advertisement
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The court heard that cell site analysis showed the movements of defendants' phones matched the movements of the Audi through Wales, and it later emerged that Amos' movements were being monitored by a GPS tracking tag he was wearing as part of other court proceedings and this data matched the locations of the tool thefts.
On August 9 police went to the Woodman Caravan Park near Bewdley in Worcestershire where they found the Audi car and a number of the stolen tools.
The defendants were subsequently located and arrested. For the latest court stories sign up to our crime newsletter[4]
In his interview Amos answered "no comment" to most questions asked but did tell officers that while his ankle tag "isn't going to lie is it", all the police had was him "in the area". In his interview Bate also answered "no comment" to most questions but told officers he had never heard of Carmarthenshire.
Aston Amos, aged 35, and 27-year-old Robbie Bate, both of Ribbesford Road, Bewdley, Worcestershire, had both previously pleaded guilty to five counts of theft when they appeared in the dock for sentencing. Amos has 15 previous convictions for 24 offences including theft from the person, handling stolen goods, and theft of a vehicle.
He is currently serving a prison sentence for wounding imposed at Worcester Crown Court. Bate has eight previous convictions for 22 offences for motoring matters. Advertisement
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Jonny Pilkington, for Amos, said the father-of-two had written a letter to the court in which he said he had been struggling with alcohol and drugs and been in debt at the time of the offending, and was "truly sorry" for what he had done.
He said the defendant had told him that being held on remand had been "the best thing" for him as it had allowed him to get clean of substances, and he said Amos had secured an offer of paid work.
Caitlin Brazel, for Bate, said the defendant realised his behaviour had been unacceptable and he wished to offer his genuine apologies to those impacted. She said her client had shared custody of his three-year-old son, and has aspirations to set up his own gardening business.
Judge Geraint Walters said the defendants had travelled a considerable distance from their homes to target white vans and steel tools in a "planned and professional" job. He said there was "little more cruel" than taking the tools that a hard-working tradesman needs to earn a living, and he told the defendants they should be ashamed of themselves.
The judge noted Amos had made the trips to Wales while subject to an electronic tag fitted in connection with other serious offending, something he described as "audacious".
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With one-quarter discounts for their guilty pleas Amos was sentenced to nine months in prison - a sentence which will be served consecutively to the sentence he is currently serving - and Bate to nine months in prison suspended for two years.
Bate must also complete a rehabilitation course, do 160 hours of unpaid work in the community, and abide by a nightly curfew for the next 12 weeks.
The judge warned Bate that he was now "in the big-boy court" and that any disobedience to the order would see him brought back to Swansea[5], a trip for which he should pack a bag as he "won't be going home".
References
- ^ Brecon (www.walesonline.co.uk)
- ^ Swansea Crown Court (www.walesonline.co.uk)
- ^ Carmarthenshire (www.walesonline.co.uk)
- ^ For the latest court stories sign up to our crime newsletter (www.walesonline.co.uk)
- ^ Swansea (www.walesonline.co.uk)