A THIEF stole alcohol, tobacco and vapes worth £7,500 during a brazen early morning raid at a village shop.

Ryan Thomas and an accomplice tied a rope to shutters at the Premier Maesycwmmer Stores in Caerphilly before pulling it to tear them off.

The burglary was captured on CCTV and the footage showed the pair leaving the scene and retuning to smash their way in when “the coast was clear”.

Pamela Kaiga, prosecuting, told Newport Crown Court it cost £3,000 to repair the damage they caused during the break-in.

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The raid took place at around 3.30am on Wednesday, May 1.

Disqualified driver Thomas was spotted by police shortly after at the wheel of an Audi A3 car which had false plates near Abercynon.

He led an officer on a high-speed chase through Merthyr Tydfil.

The 30-year-old defendant was “swerving from one side of the road to the other” and speeding at 60mph in a 20mph zone.

After Thomas was arrested and asked to provide a specimen for analysis, he told the police: “F*ck right off.”

The burglary victim revealed of the effect of the crime upon him: “I have never been so stressed, anxious and uptight.”

The defendant, of Darren Las, Merthyr Vale, Merthyr Tydfil admitted burglary, dangerous driving, driving while disqualified, failing to provide a specimen and driving with no insurance.

He has 17 previous convictions for 44 offences.

These include six for dangerous driving.

Referring to the burglary, Hannah Friedman, mitigating, said: “The defendant is particularly remorseful for the victim.”

His barrister added that Thomas was a former railway worker and the father of a two-year-old daughter.

The judge, Recorder David Warner, told the defendant of the dangerous driving: “The roads were mercifully empty of other cars at that time of the morning.

“But had they not been, who knows what the results might have been?

“You continued trying to evade the police officer who had his blue lights illuminated for a considerable period of time as you careered through Merthyr Tydfil town centre.

“Dangerous driving is a habit of yours it appears.”

Thomas was jailed for 18 months and banned from driving for more than 10 years.