MAN POINTED HANDGUN AT ‘TERRIFIED’ SCHOOLBOYS
Pistol incident sparked crime spree:
A MAN pointed an air pistol at terrified schoolchildren at the start of a crime spree which ended with him burgling his grandparents’ house, stealing their car, and smashing it into a wall.
Jonathan Veck approached the youngsters near a comprehensive school and produced the firearm from his rucksack before pointing it straight at them from just seven or eight feet away and cocking the weapon.
Veck was arrested later that same day but then released under investigation – a decision a judge described as a “disgraceful” one which had put the public at risk.
While at large the defendant went on to commit a string of further offences, including taking the same gun into a pub.
Swansea Crown Court heard the spree started on the morning of April 3 last year when Veck cycled up to three schoolboys outside a shop near a school in the city.
Dean Pulling, prosecuting, said the defendant, who was described as “looking angry”, approached them.
He said Veck got to within seven or eight feet of the youngsters before producing a handgun from a box in his rucksack, pointing it straight at them, and then cocking the weapon. The court heard the boys went straight to the school and reported the incident and the police were alerted.
A check of CCTV cameras in the area revealed the gunman to be Veck. He was arrested later that day at an address in north Gower.
Veck gave a no comment interview, refusing to reveal the whereabouts of the firearm, and was released under investigation.
Mr Pulling said weeks later the defendant burgled a house in Penclawdd, stealing the victims’ car.
Shortly afterwards police received reports of a crash near the Rake and Riddle restaurant on the outskirts of the village and emergency services found the stolen car “embedded in trees” at the side of the road with an unconscious Veck trapped in the wreckage. The driver, who “smelled heavily of alcohol”, had to be cut from the car by firefighters.
The court heard that while police were dealing with the crash they received reports that the landlady of the Royal Oak pub in Penclawdd had found a bag in the bar which had been left behind by Veck. The bag contained an air pistol and two knives, including a lock knife with an 18cm blade.
The court heard that
Veck was arrested, questioned, and released under investigation once again.
Veck was not notified that he was going to be charged for any of the weapons, burglary, or driving matters until July 12 this year by which time he had already taken his grandparents’ car without their consent, and stolen a fishing rod from the Lidl shop in Penlan.
The court heard Veck has already been made the subject of a suspended sentence for taking his grandparents’ car.
The day after the notification that he was to be charged was posted to him Veck returned to his grandparents’ house in Gowerton and broke in while they were asleep.
Mr Pulling said the defendant took the keys to the couple’s car and then took the vehicle itself. Shortly afterwards he drove it into a wall in nearby Sterry Road causing “extensive damage” to both the vehicle and wall.
In a victim impact statement from the defendant’s grandparents, Veck was described as a “rotten apple”.
Veck, of Heol Emrys, Penlan, Swansea, admitted possession of a firearm with intent to cause fear, possession of a firearm, possession of a bladed article, burglary, aggravated taking of a vehicle, theft, and a public order matter. The court heard he did not face drink or drugdriving offences in relation to the Rake and Riddle crash as too much time had elapsed for the charge to be brought.
At various times during the spree he had been in breach of two different suspended sentences.
The defendant has previous convictions for 76 offences.
Judge Paul Thomas QC said the decision to release Veck under investigation back in April last year after
he had threatened the schoolboys with the air pistol was a “disgraceful” one which had put the public at risk – especially as, at that stage, police did not know where the weapon in question was.
Giving the defendant credit for his guilty pleas and taking into account his list of previous convictions, the fact he had breached two suspended sentences, and the extra difficulty of serving a custodial sentence in the current climate, the judge sentenced him to a total of five years and four months in prison.
Veck will serve up to half of that sentence in custody before being released on licence.
He was also disqualified from driving for three years.