A thief stole £115,000 worth of machinery equipment from a business after breaking into an industrial estate. The theft resulted in the business losing thousands of pounds worth of work after having to temporarily shut.
Robert Dowding, 53, and another targeted commercial premises belonging to BAS International on Llantarnam Industrial Park in Cwmbran on December 7 last year. When the owner of the business came in the next day to discover the break in and found vehicle injection moulds worth £115k had been taken.
A sentencing hearing at Cardiff Crown Court on Wednesday heard Dowding and his unknown accomplice had staked the business out the day before and carried out the burglary "in the dead of night " in a car accompanied by his dogs. The defendant, of Melfort Gardens, Newport, was arrested and later pleaded guilty to burglary and theft.
