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.
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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.
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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.
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