The first group of west Wales criminals jailed in October

The defendants were charged with child sexual abuse, drug dealing, sexual assault, domestic abuse, breaching restraining order, and breaching a sexual harm prevention order.

They were jailed for a total of 42 years and 10 months between them.

A further eight criminals were also jailed in October for a total of around 47 years and nine months combined.

Here’s a round-up of their cases.

Alan Roberts

Alan Roberts, of Picton Road in Hakin, has been jailed for 20 years for sexually abusing six girls over a more than 40-year period.

Roberts was charged with 23 child sex abuse offences against the girls in Hakin between 1976 and 2018.

Roberts was aged between 26 and 30 when he abused his first victim – who was aged between six and 12. He touched the girl sexually and made her masturbate him.

During this period, Roberts also abused two other girls – who were aged between seven and 11 and seven.

A fourth victim was abused by Roberts in the early 2000s, when she was aged six and the defendant was in his fifties. 

• READ MORE: Victims praised for 'immense strength' as paedophile jailed for decades of abuse.

Roberts was further accused of touching and rubbing his penis against a 12-year-old girl between 2009 and 2010, and the most recent victim was aged just five or six when Roberts abused her, whilst the defendant was in his late sixties.

Initially the final victim didn’t tell anyone about the abuse because “she was scared what might happen”, and her mum, via a statement read to the court, said that Roberts had convinced the girl she “was going to be in trouble” if she told anyone.

The 74-year-old pleaded guilty to 17 charges of indecent assault on a girl under 14, four of gross indecency with a child under 14, and two of sexual assault of a girl under 13 by touching.

Judge Catherine Richards sentenced Roberts to a total of 20 years, with an additional two years on licence. Each of his victims were granted an indefinite restraining order against him, and he must register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.

Shaun Smith

Shaun Smith has been jailed after again breaching a sexual harm prevention order. (Image: Facebook)

Sex offender Shaun Smith, 58, breached a court order again by deleting an app from his phone after telling police he was being blackmailed by two men claiming they ‘worked for Fox News and the FBI’.

Smith was made the subject of a sexual harm prevention order in 2018 after admitting attempting to meet a child following sexual grooming and attempting to incite a child to engage in sexual activity. This barred him from deleting apps or internet history.

On September 1, Smith contacted 101 reporting that he was being blackmailed on an online messaging application by a woman making demands for money.

He said he was then contacted by two men who claimed they worked for Fox News and the FBI making further demands for money.

Police attended his address on Glanafon in Betws on September 9, and Smith told them he had deleted the messages as he had been told to when he called 101. Upon reviewing the call, the officers found this wasn’t true.

Smith was arrested for deleting the communications app – which put him in breach of his sexual harm prevention order for the fourth time.

The court heard that Smith “deliberately deleted the app”, and he also had previously breached the order by deleting the Telegram app in similar circumstances.

Smith was sentenced to 10 months in prison.

Lynne Leyson

Lynne Leyson was on the run for a year for over a year. (Image: Crimestoppers)

Lynne Leyson, 53, was one of the UK’s most wanted criminals before she was captured after 16 months on the run and hauled back before the court.

Her husband Stephen Leyson, now 56, and son Samuel Leyson, now 25, were jailed for 11 and six years respectively last year for their part in the family-run drugs operation.

After failing to appear at court three times, Lynne Leyson was sentenced in her absence to nine years.

Leyson, who had changed her name by deed poll to Annelyn Caldicot in an attempt to avoid capture, was arrested on September 16 at Pibwr Farm in Capel Dewi – the family farm which had been the centre of the drugs ring.

She admitted breaching her bail by failing to attend her sentencing hearing following her conviction for conspiring to supply cocaine and cannabis, as well as possessing criminal property – relating to £17,190 in cash.

The court heard that “extensive enquiries” had been carried out by police to locate the defendant during her 429 days on the run.

These included border checks, Interpol enquiries in Ireland and Spain, checks on vehicles and addresses linked to the defendant and her associates, checks with the Department for Work and Pensions, enquiries with Sussex Police over the purchase of a “small sailing vessel” moored in a marina in Brighton, and extensive enquires and appeals across the Dyfed-Powys and South Wales Police force areas.

When she was arrested, she was found with an NHS consultant’s lanyard, scrubs, a stethoscope, and what appeared to be a list of patients “in her immediate possession”.

Judge Catherine Richards sentenced Leyson to two months for breaching her bail, which will run consecutively to the nine-year sentence she is now serving.

Daniel Cloke

‘Sly and devious’ burglar Daniel Cloke broke in to his parents’ house and stole a safe containing jewellery and sentimental items before flogging them across Ammanford and Swansea.

Cloke also admitted having a knife relating to an incident after an argument with his girlfriend when he was staying with his grandparents at an address on Heol Y Gelynen in Ammanford on July 26.

He was later found and arrested on Folland Road in Garnant.

Days later, Cloke’s mum had taken her children to Porthcawl Beach on July 30. Whilst they were out, Cloke saw one of the girls posting about it on Snapchat. He called to make sure they were still out, then hung up.

The following night, the defendant’s father noticed that the safe in their bedroom – which contained gold bracelets, a solid gold chain, some Turkish coins, a gold wedding ring, as well as passports and their marriage certificate – was missing.

Over the next week, Cloke sold the items in Ammanford and Swansea – pocketing £1,335 from a pawnbrokers in Swansea.

The defendant was found on August 8 and was arrested when police found him hiding under a bed.

Cloke, 26, of Station Road in Upper Brynamman, pleaded guilty to possession of a knife, burglary, and three offences of fraud by false representation.

“No greater breach of trust can be imagined,” Judge Huw Rees said.

“It’s to your shame that you committed this burglary which in my view was a sly, devious, and mean offence.”

Cloke was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison.

Arwel Dyer

Arwel Dyer has been jailed for repeatedly breaching a restraining order put in place to protect his ex-partner from him. (Image: Dyfed-Powys Police)

‘Obsessed’ and ‘possessive’ Arwel Dyer was jailed for again breaching a restraining order put in place to protect his ex-partner – who he had previously assaulted.

Dyer was made the subject of an indefinite restraining order in March 2016 after he was convicted for battery and criminal damage against his former partner.

However, Dyer breached the order just a month later, and again in May 2017.

Dyer, 30, messaged one of his ex-partner’s friends on the evening of August 11 asking them to get her to text him because he’d heard she was going through a difficult time.

The next morning, he sent a similar message to his ex-partner’s mother, before then messaging the victim: ‘I know this is random. Are you okay? I heard about you’ on WhatsApp.

The victim blocked Dyer, but he then texted her saying ‘I still love you’ and ‘I know you still have feelings for me’, before sending a message aimed at her partner claiming she had been unfaithful to him.

She also received two emails from Snapchat which both said the defendant’s account had attempted to add her as a friend.

Judge Paul Hobson described Dyer’s behaviour towards his victim as “an ongoing obsession” and said it showed signs of “possessiveness”.

Dyer, of Heol Y Parc in Cefneithin, was sentenced to 12 months in prison.

Louis Aris

Louis Aris strangled his partner after she told him not to hit the washing line because he was “in a bad mood”.

Aris, of Stepney Road in Ammanford, had been in a relationship with the victim for around a year.

Whilst at the victim’s home in Fishguard on July 27, the defendant was “in a bad mood”, with the victim saying she was “walking on eggshells” around him.

Aris went out in to the garden and hit the washing line. When his partner - who was getting ready to go out in front of a mirror - told him not to do that, Aris ripped one of the doors off the side of the mirror.

Aris’ partner began to record him, at which point he grabbed her by the throat. There was a struggle, during which time the defendant pushed his partner.

At one stage, Aris grabbed a knife and threatened to harm himself if she called the police.

His partner attempted to escape through the back garden, but the defendant blocked her off. She eventually managed to call the police.

Aris was arrested in the back garden of a kebab shop in the Fishguard area. Upon his arrest, Aris told officers ‘It’s all lies’.

29-year-old Aris pleaded guilty to criminal damage and battery at Haverfordwest Magistrates’ Court, and an offence of strangulation at a plea hearing at Swansea Crown Court.

Aris was jailed for a total of 15 months, and was made the subject of a two-year restraining order.

Kevin Hazelgrave

Kevin Hazelgrave has been jailed for sexually assaulting a teenage girl whilst she slept.

Hazelgrave, who was 21 at the time of the incident, had initially denied assault by penetration in Tregaron on February 3, 2022, and was set to face a trial on September 16, but switched his plea to guilty on the day of trial.

Prosecutor Ian Wright told Swansea Crown Court that the victim was “particularly vulnerable” due to her age, being 17, and because she was asleep at the time.

Hazelgrave, now 23, of Llanio Road in Tregaron, was sentenced to four-and-a-half years in prison.

He must register as a sex offender indefinitely, and his victim was granted a 10-year restraining order against him.

Liam Brian

Liam Brian launched a prolonged attack on his partner and pressured her to withdraw her complaint to the police. (Image: Dyfed-Powys Police)

Liam Brian, 30, launched a “prolonged” three-hour attack on his partner last August when he became paranoid that she was cheating on him, and then pressured her in to withdrawing her complaint to the police.

He was jailed for 27 months for the attack, as well as a further seven months for perverting the course of justice.

An argument broke out between the defendant and his partner on August 11 where he accused her of infidelity and twice threw her phone at her.

They went downstairs, and Brian kicked his partner on the leg and then to the chin, before then starting to strangle her.

The victim was concerned about the defendant’s welfare, so stayed with him, but kept notes of what had happened.

Brian was “further angered” when she showed him these notes, but the pair then reconciled again. During this period of reconciliation, the pair got engaged on Christmas Day 2023. Brian then pressured the victim in to withdrawing her complaint.

The court heard that the original complaint was made to police in December 2023 and was withdrawn in January, before the withdrawal was cancelled in February.

After initially denying the offences, Brian, of Owen Street in Pennar, pleaded guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm, strangulation and perverting the course of justice on the day of trial.

As well as sending Brian to prison, Judge Catherine Richards granted his now ex-partner a 10-year restraining order against him.