Spencer Pitman and Christopher Jones wore masks made from shirts with eye holes cut into them
TWO men who raided a petrol station shop wearing make-shift masks made from shirts with eye-hole cut in the back and socks on their hands as "gloves" have been jailed.
Spencer Pitman and Christopher Jones got away with more than £1,500 in cash — along with cigarettes and vodka — from the burglary but were linked to the crime by DNA police officers found in their discarded disguises.
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Swansea Crown Court heard that while on bail for that offence Pitman then robbed a supermarket at knife-point, pulling the weapon on the lone woman working in the shop at closing time and demanding cash.
Pitman, of Clas y Bedw, Waunarlwydd, had previously pleaded guilty to burglary, robbery and possessing a bladed article, and Jones, of St Catherine Street, Carmarthen, had previously pleaded guilty to burglary when they appeared in the dock together for sentencing.
Nicola Powell, prosecuting, said the owner of the Murco garage in Waunarlwydd was doing a stock take in rear stockroom on July 23 last year when two men — their faces covered by shirts and socks on their hands — entered the shop and began emptying the till.
The owner rushed out of the stockroom and shouted at the men, who made off.
The court heard in the days following the incident police found the discarded "masks" and "gloves" in hedges and bins in the village.
Pitman was arrested shortly afterwards when police went to his house looking for Jones for an unrelated matter, and he was subsequently released on bail while police continued to investigate the incident.
Then, on December 9, Pitman went into the CK supermarket in Waunarlwydd just as it was closing for the day and pulled a knife on the shopworker, stabbing it into the conveyor by the till and demanding cash. The court heard Pitman made-off with between £700 and £800 from the shop's till — but was recognised by police from CCTV and arrested the following day.
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The court heard both have previous convictions for burglaries, robberies and dishonesty matters beginning when they were juveniles.
Twenty-eight year-old Pitman was sentenced to a total of four years in prison, while Jones — also aged 28 — was sentenced to six months.
The court heard Jones is currently a serving prisoner, having previously been jailed for a robbery at a Spar shop in Carmarthen committed three days before the Murco burglary — on that occasion he had also fashioned a mask out of a shirt tied around his face, and had armed himself with a kitchen knife.
The court heard Jones is a former soldier who had toured Afghanistan but was discharged from the Army with post-traumatic stress disorder.
Read more: http://www.southwales-eveningpost.co.uk/Jail-burglars-masks-shirts-wore-socks-hands/story-28738772-detail/story.html#ixzz40HB4ZuAi
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