A pair of prolific criminals teamed up to commit two burglaries on consecutive nights, a court has heard. Marcus Lewis and Keiran Bunce smashed their way into a woman's house in the dead of night before stealing a haul of personal items, and the next night broke into a tanning salon while the owner was asleep on the premises.
Between them the defendants have more than 100 previous offences on their records including two dozen domestic and commercial burglaries. One of them committed his first burglary when he was aged just 14.
Swansea Crown Court heard that in the early hours of June 1 this year a woman living on Catherine's Close in the Melin area of Neath returned home after a night out to find a rock had been thrown through a window of her home, and entry gained by intruders. Ieuan Rees, prosecuting, said an untidy search of the property had been made with virtually every drawer and cupboard opened and rummaged through. A haul of items including clothes, shoulder bags, a Disney purse, bank cards, cash, half a cannabis grinder, and a watch of sentimental value to the victim had been taken. In the kitchen of the house one of the burglars had left a blood-stained envelope.
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The following night Bunce and Lewis broke into a tanning salon on Windsor Road in Neath town centre, smashing a glass panel on the front door to get in. The could heard the manager of the salon was sleeping in a room at the premises at the time and, woken by a loud banging sound, saw two intruders in the premises one of whom was wearing a black balaclava. The burglars were challenged and ran off, grabbing a till and throwing it to the ground where it smashed. Subsequent checks found an iPhone, Apple Watch, and the keys to an Audi car had been taken from the salon. Read about how police pieced together a jigsaw of almost invisible clues to catch Wales' most wanted gang of burglars.
Keiran Jason Thomas Bunce, 21, of Pant-yr-Heol, Penrhiwtyn, Neath, and Marcus Raymond Lewis, 35, of Sunny Road, Sandfields, Port Talbot, had both previously pleaded guilty to two counts of burglary when they appeared in the dock for sentencing. Bunce has 11 previous convictions for 18 offences including two house burglaries and four non-dwelling or commercial burglaries, while Lewis has 49 previous convictions for 85 offences including four house burglaries and 14 commercial burglaries, the first burglary being committed when he was aged just 14. Both defendants fell to be sentenced as so-called third strike burglars.
David Singh, for Bunce, said it was accepted his client had an extremely unattractive antecedent record, and that the defendant was realistic about his position. He said Bunce had battled a drug addiction and mental health issues for many years, and had only a limited recollection of the events in question due to his having taken controlled substances following a family argument. The advocate said the defendant had written a letter to the court in which he expressed his remorse for what he had done.
Dyfed Thomas, for Lewis, said the father-of-two was candid enough to admit he had had a problem with drugs for most of his life but was committed to keeping away from such substances when he was released from the sentence he was facing.
With a discount for guilty pleas Bunce was sentenced to 876 days for the house burglary and six months for the commercial burglary to run consecutively, while with his guilty pleas Lewis was sentenced to a total of three years and four months in prison for both burglaries. The defendants will serve up to half those sentences in custody before being released on licence to serve the remainders in the community.
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