A MAN was caught with £3,000 worth of stolen designer clothes inside a car he was driving which had false plates.

Cameron Niblett, 23, was pulled over by officers in the Penpedairheol area of Caerphilly last Christmas.

Pamela Kaiga, prosecuting, said: “The police had received intelligence that the car had been involved in high value clothing being taken from other vehicles in the area.”

The officers found the legitimate plates in the boot and the designer gear inside the car.

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These offences were committed during the early hours of the morning of Saturday, December 16 last year.

They occurred less than a month after Niblett had been involved in a police chase through Cardiff and Caerphilly.

Miss Kaiga said the defendant sped at 50mph in a 20mph zone and ran a red light before he fled from the Audi A3 he was in.

A police stinger was deployed and Niblett later tested positive for driving under the influence of cocaine when he was arrested.

He admitted two counts of handling stolen goods, fraudulently using a registration mark, failing to surrender, dangerous driving, drug driving and failing to stop.

The defendant, of Gelligaer Road, Cefn Hengoed, Caerphilly has six previous convictions for 10 offences.

These include aggravated vehicle taking, drink driving and assaulting an emergency worker, Cardiff Crown Court was told.

Of the driving offences, his barrister Gareth Williams said: “He panicked and tried to escape.”

He added: "Maturity is an issue for this defendant and he is perhaps not the most sophisticated young man.”

The judge, Recorder Paul Lewis KC, told the defendant his offending was so serious that only an immediate jail sentence was appropriate.

Niblett was sent to prison for 12 months for the driving offences and a consecutive term of three months for handling stolen goods.

The total term was 15 months and he was told he would serve half of that sentence behind bars before being released on licence.

The defendant was banned from driving for three years and six months and he will have to pass an extended driving test to regain his licence.

Niblett must pay a £187 surcharge.