Teen robber’s “luck runs out” after stealing electric bike

An 18-year-old with a lengthy criminal record has been locked up after stealing an electric bike from a residential care home – just weeks after being spared jail for burglary.

Cameron Rees, of The Avenue, Cwmavon, was one of two masked youths who lifted the bike over the garden wall of a centre in Caewern, Neath, on September 3 this year.

When a staff member rushed outside to confront them, Rees squared up to him and said: “Come on. You know what. Let’s have you.” The employee could see Rees holding his right hand by his side and feared he was about to be struck, Swansea Crown Court heard.

The pair made off towards Neath College with the bike, which was later recovered badly damaged with a bent frame and drilled-out key barrel.

Rees had been handed a two-year community order just two months earlier in July for burgling a garage and breaking into a bar. He has 10 previous convictions for 14 offences, mainly involving theft of bikes and cars.

His barrister James McKenna urged the judge to consider the teenager’s age, vulnerabilities and neurodiversity, warning about him mixing with more sophisticated criminals in custody.

But Judge Geraint Walters said it was “disappointing” to see Rees back in court so quickly. He told the defendant he had been “out on a criminal enterprise with a view to doing that which you quite enjoy doing – taking motor vehicles and bicycles and the like” shortly after being given a chance.

The judge noted that “pretty much every time” Rees had been given a community sentence, he had breached it. He told him: “I am afraid your luck has run out.”

Rees was sentenced to 16 months detention in a young offenders’ institution after admitting robbery. He will serve half in custody before being released on licence.

His accomplice, who cannot be named due to his age, was dealt with separately at youth court.