Victim went undercover to confront burglar who stole car

A BURGLARY victim went undercover to confront the man who had stolen his car and taken it for a 120mph spin.

The burglar, Mark Morrison, had returned the car to the property, but then boasted on Facebook that he had both sets of keys for the vehicle. He then tried to sell the car and a sat nav device he had stolen from the house in Cross Hands, Carmarthenshire.

Swansea Crown Court heard the home owner, after hearing about the Facebook post, then posed as a buyer and confronted Morrison in person and the police were called. Prosecuting, Dean Pulling said 29-year-old Morrison gained entry to the house via an unlocked side door between midnight on April 2 and 6.45am the following morning.

Once inside, he stole keys, the sat nav device and a phone charger. He then drove the Volvo onto the bypass near Carmarthen.

Mr Pulling said the defendant was bragging online about the burglary in the early hours of April 3. His Facebook posts came to the attention of one of the occupiers of the burgled house, who arranged to meet Morrison incognito, saying he was interested in buying the sat nav for sale.

Once there, said Mr Pulling, the occupier told Morrison that the sat nav was his, and that he wanted his car keys back. But Morrison told him he was selling the sat nav on behalf of someone else, so his victim phoned the police, and eventually the keys were returned.

The victim and his wife said the inconvenience of not having the car was “massive”, as they had been unable to visit a relative who had a terminal illness, and that they were worried that the thief would come back. As a result, the couple left the house for good.

Judge Geraint Walters sentenced Morrison, formerly of Bethesda Road, Tumble, to 18 months in prison for the burglary and taking the car without consent. He also added six points to his licence and, due to the fact that Morrison already had eight penalty points, disqualified him from driving for 21 months.

Judge Walters, referring to the defendant’s 71 previous convictions, described him as a “determined career criminal”.