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Leyhill open prison: Escaped prisoners' crime spree | |
(35 minutes later) | |
Two inmates who walked out of an open prison and embarked on a month-long crime spree have been jailed for 12 years, and four years eight months. | Two inmates who walked out of an open prison and embarked on a month-long crime spree have been jailed for 12 years, and four years eight months. |
Liam Aherne, of Markham, Caerphilly, and Stephen Rees, of no fixed address, admitted trying to rob a shop, car-jack a vehicle and attack a man. | |
They were serving indeterminate sentences for violent crimes at HMP Leyhill open prison, Gloucestershire, which is deemed low risk for prisoners. | |
They were jailed at Cardiff Crown Court | |
Aherne, 24, admitted absconding, assault, attempted robbery and attempted theft of a car and was jailed for 12 years. | |
Rees, 32, was sentenced to four years and eight months after pleading guilty to absconding, attempted robbery and attempted theft. | |
Aherne had 15 previous court appearances for 37 offences when he was sent to Leyhill. But the court heard he left the prison on impulse after he was refused parole. | |
Rees joined him because he had grown frustrated by the fact he had not been given any trips outside the prison grounds, added his defence barrister Andrew Jones. | |
Together they walked out in January and attacked a kebab shop owner 10 days later, kicking Abdullah Adal in the head and face while he was on the floor. | |
The court heard that Mr Adal still had "really bad nightmares, waking in a cold sweat" and was now too scared to stay in his kebab shop alone. | |
Four days later both men attempted to rob the Best One Convenience shop in Bargoed, Caerphilly, armed with a claw hammer and a knife. | |
David Wooler, prosecuting, said: "Aherne grabbed a shop worker with one hand and demanded money as he jabbed him in the head with the knife. His brother was then hit by Rees with the hammer." | |
Armed with hammer | |
The court was told the pair fled and tried to hijack a car belonging to a passer-by, but she screamed and they ran off. | |
They broke into a home on the same day armed with a hammer. Aherne also stole the weekly takings of £5,470 from Markham Miners Welfare Club two weeks later. | |
Rees gave gave himself up to police but Aherne was arrested in a Cardiff hotel a week later after a month on the run. | |
After jailing them, the recorder of Cardiff Judge Eleri Rees told them: "You are both dangerous and prepared to carry weapons, using them on anyone that stands in your way. You showed a ruthlessness and a disregard for the injuries you caused." | |
HM Prison Leyhill is a Category D men's prison which can hold more than 500 inmates. | |
Prisoners have the keys to their own cell. The prison's farms and gardens also provide work and training for prisoners on a 55-hectare estate. |
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