Barry men jailed for taxi robbery and violent crime spree

Two Barry men who went on a violent “crime spree” have been jailed after robbing a taxi driver, burgling a shop, and driving the stolen cab at teenagers on e-scooters.

Gareth Alexander Romans, 49, of Ravenshoe Road, Barry, and Jordan Chichester, 28, of Court Road, Barry, carried out a series of shocking offences on the night of May 20 last year that left victims fearing for their lives.

Cardiff Crown Court heard the spree began when the pair caught a taxi in Barry. When the cab reached Chesterfield Street, the driver was grabbed around the neck and threatened he would be stabbed unless he handed over all his money. A passer-by who witnessed the attack “valiantly came to the driver’s assistance” and helped him escape the vehicle.

Chichester then started punching the taxi driver whilst Romans turned on the Good Samaritan, punching him to the face. The defendants jumped back into the A2Z taxi and drove away.

The pair then drove the stolen cab to Dinas Powys, stopping outside the Village Store on Station Road. They threw rocks through the shop’s glass door and stole alcohol and vapes before driving off.

Prosecutor Sol Hartley told the court “the next part of the spree” saw the defendants driving the taxi at two teenagers who were riding their e-scooters, making contact with one of them. The boys “abandoned their scooters and ran for their lives”.

Romans, who has 85 previous convictions for 159 offences, also admitted a separate theft where he used steaks as a “distraction” whilst an accomplice stole £1,400 from behind a pub and hotel reception desk in Barry.

Chichester also pleaded guilty to strangulation and criminal damage from September 2024, when he attacked his ex-partner at her home, throttling and punching her to the face. In a victim impact statement read to the court, the woman said what Chichester did to her had changed her life forever and “the fear never leaves” her. She added that she hopes Chichester never treats another woman in the way he treated her.

The court heard Romans had a “long-standing drug addiction measured in decades not years” and had been a “very promising” boxer and rugby player in his younger years. His barrister said Romans believes his current memory issues result from blows to the head sustained in those sports.

Chichester’s barrister said his client began abusing drugs and alcohol in 2024, leading to him losing his job. Around this time his relationship ended and his life “went off the rails”. He has been spending his time on remand positively, gaining enhanced prison status and securing a job as head of the food servery.

Judge Paul Thomas KC said quite what made the pair embark on their “crime spree” had never been properly explained, but it was likely that drugs played a part – either causing the behaviour after being consumed or in motivating it as a means to acquire money to buy them.

With discounts for their guilty pleas, Romans was sentenced to a total of seven-and-a-half years in prison and Chichester to seven years. Both will serve two-thirds of their sentences in custody before being released on licence to serve the remainder in the community.

Chichester was also made subject to a 10-year restraining order banning him from contacting his former partner.