A burglar caused over £18,000 worth of damage to a Burger King restaurant during a frenzied burglary in Cardiff, a court has heard. Jonathan Davies, who has 79 previous offences on his record, including numerous thefts, trashed the fast-food outlet, pouring bottles of cola into electrical equipment and smashing tills. The 34-year-old was sentenced to 20 months in prison for the crime. The prosecutor stated that Davies broke into the restaurant, carried out a thorough search, and caused substantial damage, including interfering with CCTV cameras and damaging tills and computers. The total cost of repairs was estimated to be more than £18,000.
In a separate incident, just three days after the break-in at Burger King, Davies shoplifted over £1,000 worth of goods from a Boots store. Staff at the store recognized him as a regular shoplifter and called the police. Davies was later identified as the culprit from video footage and was arrested after he voluntarily contacted the police. He pleaded guilty to non-dwelling burglary and theft from a shop. Despite his lawyer explaining that Davies struggled with mental health and drug addiction, the judge described him as a professional thief.
The judge highlighted the gratuitous damage caused by Davies to the Burger King restaurant and his brazen theft from Boots shortly after. He warned Davies that his sentences would only get longer if he continued his criminal activities. With one-third discounts for his guilty pleas, Davies was sentenced to 20 months in prison, with 16 months for burglary and four months for shoplifting to run consecutively. He will serve up to half of the sentence in custody before being released on licence. The judge emphasized that Davies needed to make better choices in life to avoid longer sentences in the future.