Serial burglar jailed after reaching 114 lifetime offences

A persistent offender has been sentenced to prison after committing his 114th crime, continuing a pattern of trying front doors and breaking into homes in Port Talbot. 🏠👮

Marcus Bevan, 38, received a three-year and nine-month sentence at Swansea Crown Court after pleading guilty to one count of burglary and two counts of attempted burglary.

The court heard that on February 11, a woman on Tydraw Street woke to find hundreds of pounds worth of clothes missing from her home. Doorbell footage showed a hooded figure entering the property around 6:30am after her husband had left for work.

The same individual was caught on camera trying front doors at two other properties on nearby Tudor Street where lone occupants were present.

Police identified Bevan through town CCTV footage by his distinctive hooded top with fur trim.

Judge Huw Rees told the defendant: “You have made it something of your life’s work to interfere with the security of people’s homes and cause distress to homeowners.”

The judge added that if Bevan continues to offend, his sentences will get “increasingly and incrementally longer and longer.”

Defence barrister Dan Griffiths explained that Bevan had been released from prison on licence in May 2024 after completing an addiction programme and had secured work at a scrap yard. However, when suffering from depression in February, Bevan “inexplicably went out on the streets to buy ‘street Valium’ to block out the emotional pain” and “reverted to his old ways.”

Bevan’s previous convictions include multiple home burglaries, stealing vehicles, and trashing a local rugby club.

He will serve up to half his sentence in custody before being released on licence.