A former soldier turned to crime to fund his lifestyle after leaving the Army a court heard.
Garry David Roughley pretended to be delivering leaflets but then targeted those homes where they remained in the letterbox and broke in stealing jewelery, cash and other items which he sold on.
During one incident in west Wales a Mercedes sports car was stolen.
This has since been recovered but another vehicle, stolen from Johnstown near Wrexham has not been found.
The 35-year-old from Llanidloes admitted admitted a string of burglaries across north, mid and west Wales between September 2015 and August this year and was locked up for six years.
Sentencing the judge, Mr Recorder Jeremy Jenkins, said: “I accept that you are generally sorry for the harm you have caused your victims and that you miss the structure and discipline of Army life.
“But many thousands of people leave the Army and do not turn to crime.
“These were deliberate, almost professional use of complex equipment to break into people’s homes.”
The judge added he was certain that during the past year Roughley would have made a considerable amount of money from the burglaries.”
Roughley also asked for 12 other burglaries to be taken into consideration.
He also admitted the theft of four kayaks from a sailing club near Welshpool, two charges of going equipped and one of fraud.
Ffion Tomos, prosecuting, said North Wales Police were alerted to Roughley travelling around the area and he was arrested by police in Llanfairpwll on August 5.
“Officers found he was carrying a bag full of night vision goggles and lock picking tools.
“He was arrested and at interview made full admissions volunteering information about burglaries which had not been reported,” she said.
Roughley told officers where he was camping and police found several bags of stolen items.
Hannah Horton, defending, said Roughley accepted a lengthy prison sentence was inevitatble.
She said Roughley did not want to rely on state benefits and in order to fund his lifestyle and had began committing crime.
“He left the Army and began a business which did not turn out to be fruitful as he would have wished,” the barrister said.
She said he targeted homes which he had made sure were empty.
“He simply did not want a confrontation,” she added.
The judge ordered the equipment seized from Roughley be destroyed.
see-http://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/caernarfon-court-hears-former-soldier-11836646
No comments:
Post a Comment