A MASKED raider who smashed his way into a youth club and trashed it before stealing £360 in cash and a PlayStation is back behind bars.

“Prolific burglar” Jed Andrews targeted the Torfaen Youth Service building at Ashley House, Mount Pleasant Road in Cwmbran, prosecutor Laura Shepherd told Cardiff Crown Court.

She said the defendant and an accomplice were recorded on CCTV wearing ski masks leaving the club’s front door after the break-in.

Two locked fire doors were forced open and Andrews was linked to the raid after detectives found his DNA on a knife at the crime scene.

The court was told that the youth club had been ransacked and vandalised during the raid and its office “trashed”.

Andrews, aged 26, formerly of Cwmbran, but now of Parc Prison, Bridgend, pleaded guilty to burglary.

The offence was committed on October 3, 2018.

The defendant, Miss Shepherd said, has 18 previous convictions for 32 offences.

She revealed how he was jailed for four months and 25 months in August 2017 for theft and perverting the course of justice and has also served a 32-month prison term for burglary.

Byron Broadstock, representing Andrews, said: “The principal mitigation is his guilty plea.”

His barrister added that his client became homeless not long after he was released from his last jail sentence.

He added: “He was staying with friends or living on the streets. Sadly, he is addicted to drugs.”

The judge, Recorder Greg Bull QC, told Andrews: “You are a prolific burglar and you know the court can only pass one sentence when you are caught.

“You were disguised in order to carry out the burglary.”

The judge added that he had planned the raid and had committed it while still on licence.

The defendant was jailed for 21 months and told he must pay a victim surcharge upon his release from custody.