A MAN who raided a garage in Neyland and made off with cars worth a total of £90,000 has been jailed.

Brian Davis, 53, of Bush Street in Pembroke Dock, and his accomplice broke in to Sinclair Garages in the early hours of April 2 last year.

The pair forced their way in to the back of the business, and pried open the board where the keys were stored with a crowbar, prosecutor Matthew Murphy said.

“In total, nine sets of keys were removed from the key board.”

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The men left in two vehicles at 2.32am. They then returned in one of the vehicles at 2.46am and took another car, before returning again to steal a fourth car.

Three of the stolen cars – a Volkswagen Tiguan, an Audi A1 and an Audi Q3 – were recovered the following day, Mr Murphy told the court.

However, the stolen Mercedes CLA, worth £12,382, was only found in January of this year.

The locks had to be changed on three of these cars, as well as on the five other cars which the burglars had stolen the keys for.

The total cost of just replacing the locks was £5,541, Mr Murphy said, whilst the stolen cars were valued at around £90,000 combined.

Police officers found a glove in the footwell of one of the cars which provided partial prints for the defendant’s left ring and index fingers.

Davis was arrested after he attended Haverfordwest Police Station on August 14 this year.

The court heard that he had gone to Scotland – despite being subject to post-sentence supervision at the time for an unrelated offence – in December last year to stay with family in Glasgow to help get clean from drugs.

He returned to Pembrokeshire some eight months later and handed himself in.

Davis, who had six previous convictions for 10 offences, pleaded guilty to three offences of non-dwelling burglary.

“The defendant, as a youth and a young adult, had a problem with heroin. There were bereavements in his family which caused him to relapse,” said Stuart John, in mitigation.

“He should never have left Pembrokeshire.

“He did so with the best intention.

“He was clean when he handed himself in.”

Mr John said Davis had taken a series of courses and attended counselling whilst in custody, and added: “He does understand the potential consequences of relapsing again”.

Judge Paul Thomas KC said the offending was too serious to warrant a suspended sentence, and added that he did not think there was a realistic chance of rehabilitation.

He jailed Davis for 15 months, running concurrently for each offence.