Offenders struck holiday lets, family homes and elderly residents

TWO men have been jailed after a wave of burglaries across Pembrokeshire and south Wales last autumn, with homes targeted in coastal villages and residential streets.

Darren Inder, aged 46, and Christopher Welke, aged 43, appeared before Swansea Crown Court for sentencing following offences committed between September and October.

The court heard that Inder carried out a series of break-ins in Pembrokeshire, including burglaries in Nolton Haven on the night of October 18. During one incident, a holiday cottage was entered while guests were staying there, with torches and £200 stolen. The same night, a nearby farmhouse was broken into, where cash, coffee and milk were taken.

Inder later burgled another Nolton Haven property, stealing food items, a knife and a backpack, before striking again in Broad Haven on October 24, where cash was taken from a home.

Both defendants were also involved in burglaries in Dynevor Avenue, Neath, during the early hours of October 4. One homeowner was woken by police shortly after 3:00am after officers noticed signs of a break-in. Doorbell camera footage showed the two men leaving the property.

In a separate incident nearby, a neighbour discovered their Fiat Panda had been stolen from the driveway. Footage captured Welke attempting to avoid a doorbell camera before entering the vehicle. Items taken during the burglary included a purse, a bank card and two collectable pound coins. Footprint evidence from the address and the recovered vehicle linked Welke to the offence.

The court was told that Inder’s offending also included a burglary at a garage in Church Crescent, Baglan, where lip filler products worth around £8,000 were stolen, as well as cigarettes and a lighter taken from an address in Cae Canol. He also burgled two elderly residents at Traherne Court, Neath, on October 4.

Prosecutor Alycia Carpanini outlined the pattern of offending, describing it as persistent and escalating.

Inder, of Chamberlain Road, Neath, admitted 11 burglary offences. He has 26 previous convictions for 92 offences, the majority relating to theft and dishonesty. His barrister, James McKenna, said Inder had made full admissions in interview but had relapsed into Class A drug use, which had fuelled his behaviour.

Welke, of Southall Avenue, Skewen, pleaded guilty to two burglaries and the theft of a motor vehicle. He has 91 previous convictions for 229 offences, including 148 for dishonesty. His defence said longstanding substance misuse problems had led to a rapid decline, including periods of homelessness.

Inder was sentenced to four-and-a-half years in prison. Welke received a sentence of two years and three months.

Cover image:

Darren Inder and Christopher Welke (Pic: Dyfed-Powys Police).

DYFED-POWYS POLICE is holding a four-week Firearms Amnesty for five types of BRUNI-manufactured side/top-venting blank firers (TVBFs) which are now illegal to possess following testing by the National Crime Agency (NCA) and policing.

The amnesty will take place between 2 and 27 February, after which anyone in possession of one of the specified TVBFs could be subject to prosecution and up to 10 years imprisonment. 

Tests by the National Crime Agency have shown that five specific types of top-venting blank firearms are readily convertible and therefore illegal.

Side/top-venting blank firers are legal to buy in the UK without a licence by over 18s unless they are readily convertible. Tests by the NCA and policing have shown that the following BRUNI models are readily convertible and are therefore illegal:

• 8mm PAK Bruni BBM Model 92 blank firing self-loading pistol
• 8mm PAK Bruni BBM New Police blank firing self-loading pistol
• 8mm PAK Bruni BBM Model 96 blank firing self-loading pistol
• 8mm PAK Bruni BBM Model ‘GAP’ blank firing self-loading pistol
• .380R (9mmK) PAK Bruni BBM ME Ranger single-action blank firing revolver

The amnesty will provide owners an opportunity to hand in TVBFs at police stations around Dyfed and Powys.

The locations in Dyfed-Powys are:

• Carmarthenshire: Ammanford, Carmarthen and Llanelli
• Pembrokeshire: Haverfordwest
• Ceredigion: Aberystwyth and Cardigan
• Powys: Brecon, Llandrindod Wells and Newtown

You can visit the stations between the hours of 8am-4pm Monday to Friday.

To ensure safety when transporting a TVBF, please:

• Place the item in a bag or box to keep it out of public sight.
• Make a specific journey solely for this purpose to minimise the time spent in public.
• Upon arrival, inform the staff at the front counter that you are there to hand in a firearm before presenting it to them.

The police are asking people to hand in any TVBFs before February 27 in order to avoid prosecution and to prevent these pistols getting into the wrong hands.

Many TVBFs may be held in innocence and ignorance of their illegality or may be overlooked or forgotten in people’s homes. The amnesty gives holders the chance to dispose of the TVBFs safely by taking it to one of the local police stations listed above and handing it in.

During the amnesty period, those handing in one of the five identified BRUNI TVBFs will not face prosecution for the illegal possession and they can remain anonymous.

Dyfed-Powys Police Sergeant Haydon Mathias said: “Gun crime in the Dyfed-Powys area remains very rare but we are not complacent about it, which is why we are supporting the national BRUNI TVBF firearms amnesty.

“Surrendering these weapons now will help prevent them getting into the wrong hands in the future and being used by criminals, so we want as many top-venting blank firers as possible to be handed in.”

If you cannot travel to one of the locations during the amnesty, you can call us on 101, where we can discuss this with you to ensure you can take part.  

If you are ever in doubt, we urge you to make contact with us for advice.  

Brother found dead after neighbours raised alarm over distressed dog, Swansea Crown Court told

A MAN accused of murdering his brother is standing trial at Swansea Crown Court, where jurors heard harrowing evidence about the final hours of a 48-year-old man found dead at his home in Morriston.

Darren Steel, aged 41, from Morriston, Swansea, denies murdering his brother Martin Steel on May 20, 2023. He also faces an alternative charge of manslaughter.

Opening the prosecution case on Tuesday morning (Jan 27), prosecutor Andrew Jones told the jury that Martin Steel was discovered dead inside his flat at Hill View Crescent after neighbours became concerned when his dog was found whining alone in the garden at around 8.30am.

The court heard that neighbours attempted to alert Mr Steel but received no response. They took the dog into their home and noticed its fur was matted with a red-brown substance and that the animal appeared distressed.

Further attempts were made to get an answer at the flat before another neighbour suggested contacting Mr Steel’s mother, who had been due to go shopping with him that morning.

She arrived shortly afterwards but was unable to enter through the front door, which was deadlocked, or the back door, which had been chained shut. From inside the property, she heard a voice she recognised as belonging to her son Darren ask: “Who’s that?”

After identifying herself, she was asked: “Have you brought the police with you?”

She replied that she had not, and the door was then opened.

Upon entering the flat, she found Martin Steel slumped in a chair, his face covered in blood and his eyes and face severely swollen. Mr Jones told the court the injuries were consistent with what he described as an “aggressive, ferocious attack”.

The court heard that Martin Steel’s mother placed her hand on his forehead and checked for a pulse and heartbeat, but found none. His body was cold. She called 999 and, following instructions from the emergency call handler, moved him onto the floor.

Mr Jones told the jury that the defendant then fled the scene.

While tending to her son, she heard Darren Steel say: “He’s not dead,” after she said she could not find a pulse. She also described his eyes as looking “like a shark’s eyes”.

Emergency services arrived and attempted CPR, but Martin Steel was pronounced dead at 11.06am.

The court heard that Martin Steel suffered extensive injuries, including cuts, abrasions and bruising to his face and head, internal bruising, a fractured voice box and larynx horn, collapse of his airway, and a lower lip detached from his jaw. The injuries were consistent with blunt force trauma.

The prosecution say Darren Steel killed his brother during what was described as a “fit of extreme rage”. The defendant claims he acted in self-defence after being punched twice during an argument, saying he struck his brother four to five times lawfully.

Mr Jones told the jury that body-worn camera footage captured at the scene showed what he described as an “extreme violent attack” and “starkly exposes the lie” that Martin Steel was the aggressor.

After fleeing the flat, the defendant went to a friend’s address, where he arrived intoxicated and sobbing. He told the friend that an argument with his brother had “gone too far”. He was advised to hand himself in.

When a police van arrived nearby, officers asked the defendant to identify himself. He gave the name “Andrew Jones”. The friend mouthed his real name to officers, and Darren Steel was arrested and taken to Swansea Police Station.

At the police station, the court heard that the defendant said he had smoked heroin with his brother and his girlfriend. He claimed his brother had been “coming on to” his girlfriend and had punched him several times. He said he had stayed in the flat all night, placing pillows behind his brother’s head and neck, adding: “If he’s gone, it’s manslaughter.”

A post-mortem examination concluded that Martin Steel died from blunt impact trauma to the left side of his head and face and the front of his neck, together with airway impairment caused by the deliberate application of force to a vulnerable area of the body, consistent with an intention to kill.

A microscopic examination showed that Martin Steel survived for between three and six hours after the assault, during which time the defendant was present but did nothing to help him.

Mr Jones told the court: “This demonstrates he must have been in terrible pain and suffering for several hours. The defendant did not raise a finger to help him and did nothing to give his brother any chance of survival.

“The defendant’s only concern was purely for himself.”

Jurors were shown photographs and blood-spatter analysis which, the prosecution say, contradict the defendant’s claim that his brother was standing during the assault. Instead, the evidence was said to be consistent with a man being punched while seated in a chair.

Analysis of the defendant’s clothing suggested blood transfer occurred as the victim’s blood was beginning to clot, indicating what the prosecution described as prolonged violence.

The court also heard evidence about events in the days leading up to the death. Mr Jones told jurors that on May 18 and 19, 2023, the defendant was involved in what he described as escalating violence towards others.

The prosecution said Darren Steel had since been convicted of unlawful wounding after assaulting Julian Samuels by punching him, strapping him to a chair with parcel tape, continuing to strike him to the face and throat, pressing fingers into his eyes, and threatening to cut his throat.

The jury also heard that the defendant had been convicted of assaulting his girlfriend, Dawn Begley, at Martin Steel’s flat the night before the killing. CCTV footage was shown of him chasing her with a hammer and later grabbing her by the hair in the road.

Ms Begley told the court she believed she would have been killed had she been forced back into the flat.

Mr Jones said the earlier incidents demonstrated an escalating pattern of violence that culminated in Martin Steel’s death.

He told the jury: “Darren Steel was in a fit of rage and he took it out on his brother. Martin Steel was incapable of defending himself. He stood idly by as his brother’s life ebbed away.”

The trial continues at 10.30am on Wednesday (Jan 28).