Crumlin scrapyard one-armed robber has jail term doubled (From South Wales Argus)

Crumlin scrapyard one-armed robber has jail term doubled

5:20pm Wednesday 28th November 2012 in News

A ONE-ARMED robber who stole £10,000 from a Crumlin scrapyard has had his jail term almost doubled after the Attorney General challenged his "unduly lenient" sentence.

David John Adams, 44, of no fixed abode, was jailed for a total of six years and 8 months at Newport Crown Court in September after he admitted robbery and possession of an imitation firearm.

Martin Tuft, 55, of Glebe Street, Newport - who was not present during the raid but helped plan it - was jailed for 5 years and 10 months after he admitted robbery.

Today top judges at London's Court of Appeal allowed a challenge by Attorney General, Dominic Grieve QC - and increased both men's sentences to 12 years.

Lady Justice Rafferty said Adams had planned to steal money from the cash office at the recycling plant, on the Pan-y-Fan industrial estate, in Crumlin to pay off drug debts.

At about 8.30am, on March 12, he and another man walked into the yard wearing balaclavas and high-visibility jackets, each pulling what appeared to be shotguns from a plastic bag. The staff were ordered onto the ground.

The men escaped with £10,000, after destroying the yard's telephone line and staff's mobile phones. The money and imitation firearms were never recovered.

The judge said Tuft had scoped out the yard with Adams before the robbery, but had backed out of the heist as he did not like the look of the scrap yard's security.

She concluded: "The sentences were too low. We see no reason to distinguish between these two men. We think this is a case where the appropriate sentences should have been, and now are, 12 years."