Last member of ruthless burglary gang jailed after years on the run (original) (raw)

A member of family-based organised crime group wanted for a string of house burglaries was caught after more than two years on the run when police arrested him for stealing catalytic converters from cars, a court has heard

Michael Casey burgled a dozen houses in Swansea, Neath and Port Talbot in 2018 as part of a ruthless and organised gang which was responsible for scores of break-ins during which half-a-million pounds worth of gold and other jewellery was taken.

While other members of the group were arrested in January 2019, he disappeared - and after a manhunt involving police around the UK and in the Republic of Ireland he was arrested in Greater Manchester in April this year with a Mercedes car full of tools and stolen catalytic converters.

Swansea Crown Court heard that prior to becoming involved in the south Wales conspiracy, Casey had previously been involved with a gang of men who burgled a house in Greater Manchester during which a 78-year-old woman was held prisoner and had rings and necklaces ripped from her body.

The defendant's barrister told the court Casey had grown up as part of the traveller community in Limerick in the Irish Republic before moving to the UK at the age of 16 where he fell under the influence of older, criminally minded, uncles and cousins.

Casey fell to be sentenced for both sets of Manchester offending and for the Welsh burglary spree when he appeared in court via videolink on Friday.

Ian Wright, prosecuting, said the first offence took place in Cheadle in Greater Manchester in June 2017 when Casey was part of a group of four masked men who forced entry to the home of the 78-year-old woman claiming to be police officers executing a search warrant. While the homeowner was detained and had rings and other jewellery ripped from her, others in the group ransacked her house looking for cash and jewellery.

The court heard the gang fled the scene in a black Seat Leon - a vehicle which had been stolen the previous day in Oxfordshire. A short time later the car became involved in a police chase in Stockport and, after being cornered in a cul-de-sac, was deliberately rammed into the pursuing cop car. The four men inside, including the then 16-year-old Casey, then ran off and made good their escape but police were able to recover gloves and camouflaged face coverings from inside the vehicle.

The following August Casey took part in a series of burglaries in Swansea, Neath and Port Talbot which were part of a wider campaign of burglaries being run from the travellers site at Mill Stream Way on Swansea Vale. Between August 4 and August 9 the defendant took part in 12 burglaries or attempted burglaries in Ynystawe, Llansamlet, Skewen, Morriston, and Aberavon.

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Mr Wright said the burglaries in the week in question followed the same pattern as others in the wider campaign of break-ins - gangs of masked men in stolen cars targeting houses and stealing cash and high-value jewellery. During one burglary alone, at a house in Skewen, the gang stole gold and other jewellery items worth £70,000.

Casey left south Wales on the evening of August 9 but the spree of burglaries would continue until the following January when it was ended by a police raid on the Mill Stream Way site as part of Operation Timmia. Five members of the family-based gang - Kieran, Patrick, Daniel ,William and David Joyce - were later jailed for conspiracy to burgle following a trial at Swansea Crown Court in November and December 2019 but Casey and two other suspects went on the run. After an extensive manhunt all three were eventually caught, with Daniel Casey being sentenced in March this year, and Wayne Harty in September.

The court heard that Michael Casey was arrested in April this year in Stockport in Greater Manchester after a high-speed chase of silver C-Class Mercedes, a chase which at times topped 100mph in 30mph zones. Eventually the Merc was abandoned and two men, one of whom was Casey, ran away. Both occupants were subsequently caught - Casey was found hiding in a garden - and in the Mercedes police found a dozen stolen catalytic converters along with electric saws and drills, and a trolley jack.

Michael Lee Timothy Casey, aged 21, of Mynells Gorse travellers site, Golf Course Lane, Leicester, had previously pleaded guilty to burglary - the 2017 raid on the house in Cheadle - conspiracy to burgle, and to theft, handling stolen goods, and going equipped for theft in relation to the catalytic converter offending when he appeared in the dock for sentencing.

Eugene Hickey, for Casey, said the defendant was part of the traveller community and had grown up in Limerick in Ireland where his mother had kept him away from crime. However, at the age of 16 - as was the custom in the community, and like his father and grandfather before him - he went "travelling", and moved to the UK. The barrister said that once away from home the impressionable teenager fell under the "entirely corrosive influence" of older and "more criminally inclined" uncles and cousins who "should have known better".

Mr Hickey said Casey had written a letter to the court in which he expressed his remorse for his actions, and said he now just wanted to settle down, find work, and start a family.

Judge Paul Thomas QC said he hoped Casey's expressions of remorse and indications that he wanted to take a different path in life were genuine. He said in coming to the appropriate sentence he had in mind the defendant's age at the relevant times, this roles in the incidents, his guilty pleas, and the principle of "totality" - that is, the overall sentence for all the offending.

Casey was sentenced to four years in prison comprising 16 months for the Cheadle burglary, 30 months for the south Wales burglaries, and two months for the catalytic converter thefts, all to run consecutively. The defendant will serve up to half that period in custody before being released on licence to serve the remainder in the community.

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The defendant, now aged 21, appeared at Swansea Crown Court on Friday to b