A man who threatened lone shopworkers with knives and a sickle during a string of raids on Swansea convenience stores has been jailed for nine years.
Shane Burne, 34, of Cwm Clyd, Waunarlwydd, admitted four counts of robbery and one count of attempted robbery. The charges relate to five shops he targeted in a little over three weeks in August, leaving with hundreds of pounds in cash along with alcohol and tobacco.
He was sentenced at Swansea Crown Court, where the judge praised the police work that led officers to him. That investigation was helped by a distinctive tattoo on his wrist.
The judge’s view
Judge Geraint Walters said Burne had spent the spree “terrifying shopworkers”, picking out small corner shops where employees are often on their own. Such businesses play a valuable part in their communities, the judge said, and the courts must protect the people who work in them.
Burne was given a one-quarter reduction for his guilty pleas, leaving him with a nine-year prison term.
The judge also credited the “proper detective skills” of the officers involved. He said he had no doubt that, without their work, the robberies would have carried on.
The raids
Prosecutor Craig Jones took the court through each incident. The first began at about 10pm on August 7 at the San and Jas Store, a family-run shop in Manselton. With his face hidden by the hood of his jacket, Burne went to the counter, pulled a Stanley-type knife from his pocket and waved it at the man working there alone. The shopkeeper backed through a door behind the counter and had to keep it held shut as Burne tried to get to him. Burne eventually left, taking bottles of rum and brandy.
A short time later he turned up, face again covered, at the Family Shopper in nearby Brynhyfryd. This time he pointed a large knife at the worker, shouting “Give me the money” over and over. The worker ran out of the shop and phoned his manager and the police. Burne helped himself to tobacco before escaping on a bicycle.
On the night of August 24 he walked into Matha Stores in Manselton wearing a hooded hi-vis work top, with a surgical mask over his face. He took a drink from the fridge and brought it to the counter, and the shopkeeper assumed he was about to pay for the can. Instead, Burne produced a small silver knife and demanded cash. Fearing the raider would come round the counter, the worker grabbed a metal rod and shouted at him to get out. Burne ran off with nothing.
Four days later, the Jaks store in Waunarlwydd was targeted. Hooded and masked, Burne took a can of Red Bull to the counter and let it be scanned. He then shouted “give the money” and drew a dark-handled knife with a blade of around eight inches. When the worker said he would call the police, Burne climbed over the counter and, at knifepoint, made the worker open the till. He left with between £600 and £650.
The final raid came on August 30 at Premier S&L Stores on Llangyfelach Road, where the hooded and masked robber waved a large sickle at staff. He rushed behind the counter demanding money from the till, holding the sickle close to an employee. According to the prosecution, staff saw that his eyes were bloodshot and it appeared “he had taken something”. He escaped with tobacco and £365 in cash.
The tattoo that gave him away
The worker at the Family Shopper gave police the detail that would prove crucial: the robber had a distinctive “dad” tattoo on his right wrist and forearm.
Detectives used a police database of known offenders with similar tattoos. Images from it were compared with a “dad” tattoo seen on Burne’s wrist during a recent police interview about unrelated matters. The officer from that case was then able to identify him.
Evidence in the brambles
House-to-house enquiries in Manselton and Brynhyfryd produced further leads. One homeowner told officers they had found a yellow-handled Stanley-type knife in their garden on the morning of August 8, and the weapon was recovered.
Further enquiries took officers to a quiet lane, where they found these items hidden in bramble bushes:
- a black hooded jumper
- a sickle
- a surgical face mask
- a can of Red Bull
Forensic scientific evidence linked Burne to the face mask.
Arrest and phone messages
On September 1, police went to a property in Swansea where they believed Burne would be. He at first refused to open the door, and following “a period of negotiation” he was detained by armed officers. In interview, he answered “no comment” to every question.
When his phone was examined, officers found an incoming message which read: “I’ll sort it there now for you. I don’t no [sic] why ur blaming me or what your doing Shane. I didn’t ask u to rob places or people…”
Previous offending
The court heard that Burne, who is originally from Ireland, has “an extensive criminal history, particularly in relation to offences of dishonesty”. His record runs to 45 previous convictions for 93 offences, most of them committed in Ireland. They include a conviction for robbery and theft in May 2014, for which he was sentenced to 22 months in prison.
Mr Jones said Burne is wanted in Ireland, where an outstanding warrant is in force over offending committed in 2022. The prosecutor said that timeframe coincided with the start of his offending in Wales.
The defence case
John Allchurch, representing Burne, told the court his client had been given a community order at Swansea Magistrates’ Court in 2022 for stealing and using a bank card, and had completed it successfully.
Mr Allchurch said he had asked Burne why he carried out the robberies. He was told Burne had struggled to cope after separating from his partner and children, had turned to cocaine, and had committed the raids to fund the habit.
He said Burne had expressed remorse for the impact of his offending on his victims. He added that his client had used his time on remand constructively, taking a painting and decorating course and beginning to learn to read and write.
