A FAMILY who handled stolen goods as part of a £70,000 ‘serious and sophisticated’ organised theft from businesses have been jailed.

Henry Adam Price, aged 44, was sentenced at Cardiff Crown Court today after pleading guilty to three counts of handling stolen goods, along with his brother Colwyn Price, 46, and their nephew Henry W Price, aged 26, who both pleaded guilty to one count of handling stolen goods.

Ieuan Bennett, prosecuting, said in January last year, a wrench worth £1,400 was stolen from a locked cabin outside Bridgend which belonged to a railway plant hire company. The court heard Henry Adam Price was stopped by police in February of last year with the item in the van.

Police also found in the van parts of a Mercedes 814 box van worth £2,000 which was stolen from a farm in St Brides, Newport. The court heard the stolen van had been broken down for scrap metal and parts of the chassis and gear box were found in Henry A Price's van.

Officers confiscated the items but did not arrest him on that day. Mr Bennett said Price was 'vague' about where he got the items which caused officers to be suspicious.

A cab worth £40,000 and an orange trailer worth £20,000 belonging to Ronnie Evans were stolen from the dock yard in Newport. The court heard the stolen trailer was fully loaded with scrap metal which was going to be sold for an estimated £5,492.76.

Mr Bennett said members of staff from Ronnie Evans traced the trailer to AJT Recycling in Swansea where they saw a number of men with the trailer.

The police attended and arrested the three defendants. The court heard, dogs and a helicopter were deployed to search for Henry Adam Price who was hiding behind scrap metal. One officer cut his leg in an effort to get to him but Mr Bennett said Price ‘promptly’ came out of hiding when he was ‘threatened with a Taser.’

Mr Bennett said the three defendants were part of the enterprise to dispose of stolen goods but there was no evidence of them taking the trailer or the cab.

Jeffrey Jones, defending, Henry A Price, said his personal circumstances should be consider as a family man with four children including a son with cystic fibrosis who is waiting for a lung transplant. He has 23 previous convictions for 31 offences; Henry W Price has eight previous convictions for nine offences and Colwyn Price 18 convictions for 27 offences.

Henry A Price, of Rover Way, Cardiff, was sentenced to 10 months imprisonment; Colwyn Price, of Greenway Road, Cardiff, was sentenced to six months imprisonment and Henry W Price, also of Greenway Road, was sentenced to four months imprisonment.

Judge Niclas Parry said: "The background to this kind of offending is the serious, planned, sophisticated theft, targeting property taken from businesses who rely on being able to leave their property in the outdoors.”

He added: "This offending would not happen if it wasn't for those handling; making that crime into profit."