Car thieves driving around Swansea in a stolen car passed an Amazon van and stopped to steal it, a court has heard.
Earlier that afternoon Jamie Jones and his unidentified accomplice had stolen the car they were in from a mum and her children while they were in a supermarket.
When the pair spotted a delivery van parked at the side the road they decided to stop steal it – but hadn’t accounted for the delivery driver being a former soldier.
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Ashanti-Jade Walton, prosecuting, told Swansea Crown Court that sometime between 2pm and 4pm on January 15 this year Jones and another man stole a Ford EcoSport from the car park of the Swansea city centre Tesco while the owner and her children were shopping.
At around 4.15pm that afternoon the car was seen by motorists in Upper Gendros Crescent in the Gendros area of the city where it was parked in the middle of the street blocking traffic. The prosecutor said witnesses saw a man, now known to be 24-year-old Jones, get out of the car, run to a nearby delivery van, and jump into the empty cab.
Miss Walton said the van driver – who was delivering an Amazon parcel to a nearby house – rushed back to his vehicle and managed to grab the would-be thief and pull him out of the cab. A "scuffle" then ensued with Jones trying to get the keys to the van off the driver.
With the delivery man getting the better of the thief the EcoSport reversed towards the van and Jones managed to free himself and get into the getaway car. The stolen car then sped off.
The prosecutor said a witness to the incident made a note of the fleeing Ford's registration and contacted the police. The car was found the following week in Morriston – bits of black sticky tape had been used to alter some of the letters on the number plate.
Jones was identified after a sample of blood recovered from inside the Amazon van was matched to him.
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In an impact statement from the Ford’s owner she said the theft of the family's car had caused stress and anxiety and she had had to get a full valet of the inside of the vehicle once it was returned. She said she now uses a steering wheel lock when she parks her car.
In a statement from the delivery driver he said he had been discharged from the Army with post-traumatic stress disorder following a tour of Afghanistan and that the incident in Gendros triggered some of those memories and nightmares. He said had been left feeling paranoid when vehicles passed his van and as a result had had to give up work.
Jones, of Stembridge Avenue, Portmead, Swansea, admitted theft and attempted theft. He has eight previous convictions for 17 offences including thefts, being carried in a stolen vehicle, and drug-driving.
Dan Griffiths, for Jones, said both the theft and the attempted theft had been "brazen" offences which "lacked any real sophistication". He said his client had a history of mental health issues including schizophrenia, severe anxiety, and depression "no doubt exacerbated by controlled substances, in particular crack cocaine".
Judge Catherine Richards told Jones he and his accomplice had gone out on the day in question equipped to steal cars. She described the attempted theft of the delivery van as "disturbing" and noted it was only when the defendant found that he could not physically dominate the van driver that he fled.
With one-third discounts for his guilty pleas Jones was sentenced to a total of 18 months in prison comprising 10 months for the theft and 18 months for the attempted theft to run concurrently. The defendant will serve up to half that period in custody before being released on licence.
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