Five men jailed for £20,000 Cwmbran biscuits theft Published duration 4 April 2016

image copyright Gwent Police image caption Kieron Price, Stephen Burrows, Aaron Walsh, Anthony Edgerton and Paul Price (l to r), were all sentenced

Five men who stole a trailer containing £20,000 of biscuits from a factory in Torfaen have been jailed.

The trailer was taken from Burton's Food, Cwmbran, on 17 June last year.

Cardiff Crown Court heard the men, from Cheshire and Liverpool, had abandoned the trailer, worth about £10,000, which was later found but the biscuits have not been recovered.

They all admitted theft-related charges and were given jail terms ranging from 44 to 16 months.

As the men were sentenced, one of them shouted "would you like a biscuit?".

The court heard that in May 2015, Anthony Edgerton and Paul Price put false number plates on a stolen Network Rail van.

They then travelled to Kent in it where they stole a tractor worth £15,000 and used it to take an articulated trailer containing 2,000 cases of Carling lager, worth £43,000.

The court heard a month later the five men travelled in convoy from Kent to Cwmbran, leaving the lager trailer behind, and planned to take another containing "biscuits and other food stuff".

Prosecutor Jason Howells said, on arrival, one of the men presented himself as a DHL worker who had been instructed to take a load to Liverpool.

When the trailer was driven out without stopping to hand over paperwork the alarm was raised.

The biscuit trailer was found abandoned in a lay-by on the M62 motorway but neither the lager or the biscuits have been found.

The production value of the biscuits was £12,400 but the retail value about £20,000.

Edgerton, 35, who was already on remand at HMP Altcourse, Liverpool, pleaded guilty to four theft-related charges, handling stolen goods and driving while disqualified and was handed a 44-month jail term, as well a three-year driving ban.

Price, 38, of no fixed abode, admitted five theft charges and handling stolen goods and was jailed for 40 months.

Kieron Price, 28, of Runcorn, Cheshire, admitted driving a vehicle taken without consent and two counts of theft and was sentenced to 12 months.

Stephen Burrows, 36, a prisoner at HMP Dovegate, Staffordshire, admitted theft and being carried in a vehicle taken without consent, and was given 16 months.

Aaron Walsh, 25, of Liverpool, admitted four counts of theft and was handed a 16-month sentence.

The court heard Kieron Price had "an exemplary background" in the Army but suffered from PTSD while Edgerton's barrister argued it was "not his plans".

Defence for Burrows and Walsh claimed they played "limited" roles, while Paul Price had lost his job and was said to have regretted his actions.

Kieron Price was also sentenced to six months for a separate offence of possession of cannabis with intent.