A 33-year-old man has been given a one-month prison sentence for hurling a wheelie bin through a Subway window in Pontypridd. He told police afterwards that he wanted to be locked up again.
Jamie Evans, of no fixed abode, had already admitted criminal damage when he came before Recorder Paul Lewis KC at Cardiff Crown Court for sentencing. The court heard he had spent almost four months on remand. That was longer than any term the court could reasonably have imposed for the offence, and the recorder said he expected Evans to be released imminently.
Reporting his own crime
The window was smashed at around 10.30pm on Friday, June 26, at the Subway branch on Taff Street. Rather than leaving the scene, Evans walked to his local police station and rang South Wales Police from outside to tell them what he had done.
Prosecuting, Denise Osei said Evans explained he was “struggling” on the “outside” and wanted to go back to jail.
After his arrest he declined to be interviewed. Instead, he handed officers a prepared statement that repeated the account he had given on the phone. CCTV from the area later showed him swinging the bin at the shop window and kicking it.
Cost to the business
Repairs to the shopfront were valued at £1,447 plus VAT. Ms Osei read the owner’s statement to the court. It described how the incident had affected the business and raised concerns for the safety of staff, who had left the premises only 10 minutes earlier.
Previous offending
Evans has 40 previous convictions for 50 offences, 13 of them for criminal damage. His most recent conviction was in February this year. He was given 16 months in prison, suspended for two years, for assault occasioning actual bodily harm. He was still subject to that order when he targeted the shop.
Defence arguments
Daniel Jones, representing Evans, said the maximum sentence for the criminal damage charge was three months, while his client had already been on remand for four. Mr Jones added that Evans had also spent three months in custody before the suspended sentence was handed down in February. He asked for a sentence that would allow his client to walk free straight away.
Sentencing
Recorder Lewis said he did not underestimate the effect this kind of offending has on franchise-run businesses such as Subway. He said Evans had wanted to return to custody and had deliberately put the bin through the window to get himself arrested.
Considering the option of releasing Evans immediately, the recorder said: “Who is to say that another franchisee will not find his window stoved in?” He then asked rhetorically: “What am I do to with him?”
After a one-third reduction for the guilty plea, Evans was sentenced to one month in prison.
The recorder said it would not be just in all the circumstances to activate the February suspended sentence. Instead, he fined Evans £100 for breaching the order. He said the fine would be treated as paid because of the time Evans had already served.
No compensation order was made. Recorder Lewis said he sympathised with the Subway owner, but compensation was not realistic given Evans’ financial position.
