Copper raid cost firm £230k
Pair jailed for role in burglary
A GANG of copper thieves caused almost quarter of a million pounds worth of damage to a haulage company.
Paul Condick and Nathan Kingsley were behind a series of breakins at the Owens Transport Services depot in Bynea in Llanelli last July, taking the copper cable which they sold on to scrap metal dealers.
The break-ins were discovered after a warehouse manager came across a plastic skin stripped from copper cable, and later found perimeter fencing of the depot and discovered a metal bar had been cut.
Police reviewed CCTV footage after the incident had been reported to them which showed a Ford Transit van at the location just after midnight on Saturday, July 11.
It was stopped on the M4 some time later and during a search of the vehicle a large amount of copper wiring and a metal bar were discovered.
Also discovered in the van were two 20kg weight plates stolen from a neighbouring unit at the depot Equip4Gyms.
Two other men were in the van with them at the time; Jack Carey, aged 26, and Rhys Carey, aged 33, both of Heol Homfray in Cardiff.
Both men were given 18-month prison sentences, suspended for two years, at an earlier court hearing.
Condick, 38, and Kingsley, 30, appeared at Swansea Crown Court where they pleaded guilty to three charges of burglary. Condick also pleaded guilty to driving while disqualified and without insurance.
Georgina Buckley, prosecuting, told the court the copper cable had been sold for £7,832, but the cost of the loses to the affected businesses was in the region of £230,000.
Mitigating, Helen Randall said Condick, of Heol Trelai, Cardiff, had a number of previous convictions for theft but had no convictions for the past two years and no custodial sentence for seven, and knew an immediate custodial term was inevitable.
“At the time the defendant was using alcohol and drugs and to use the colloquial expression his life had gone off the rails,” she said.
“Emma Ward, the mother of his three children, had given up on him being involved in their life due to his drink and drug issues but has demonstrated a complete change of attitude and is prepared to live with him on release and her father to employ him.
“In the time he has been in custody he has enhanced status in the prison and works as a cleaner in prison which is prized and trusted role.
“He is addressing his drug and alcohol use and is preparing himself so on release he can return to family life and honest employment and give back to the family which has assisted them.”
She added he was due to have a biopsy on a growth to determine whether it is cancer.
Tim Evans, for Kingsley, of Caerau Lane, Cardiff, said his client is a talented mechanic, particularly with motorcycles.
He said: “He has worked with a local gentleman who lost patience with him but who has indicated will give him another chance to behave properly and apply his talents in a legal way.
“He has a number of convictions for possession of drugs and had lost contact with his four-year-old daughter and partner because of a serious cocaine problem.
“He has been in and out of prison for some time and he does not want that to be his life.
“Shortly before this last chapter he started to address those arrangements. He had been not only homeless but penniless, but took proper steps to agree contact with his daughter.
“He knows he is back where he was some time ago but aims to better himself.”
He added he had been working with drug and alcohol agency Dyfodol to address his issues.
Sentencing, Judge Paul Thomas said: “You both travelled with two less experience men on three separate occasions.
“This was no spur of the moment, impulsive incidents, they were carefully planned.
“Copper was taken and extensive damage caused in doing so.
“The gains were modest to you but the loss of close to £250,000 to the owners.
“Jack and Rhys Carey I sentenced but you were more involved in organising. You were the main players and you have significant records for dishonesty and other offending”.
Judge Thomas said he accepted there was evidence Condick, who was convicted in 2018 of burglary of Dyfed Steels, had experienced a change of attitude, and that Kingsley was engaging with Dyfodol, but added: “I hope that is genuine, not just for mitigation.”
Condick was sentenced to 27 months on each of the three counts of burglary, to run concurrently, plus a further month for driving while disqualified, to run consecutively, making a total of 28 months.
Kingsley was also sentenced to 27 months on the three counts of burglary, to run concurrently.