FOLLOWING a break-in at the former Friar’s Park police station, officers found a plethora of items from an antique police bicycle to riot gear in a Carmarthen flat.
Magistrates sitting in Llanelli on Thursday (Sept 13) heard that on July 27 this year police discovered there had been a burglary at the station, which was no longer in use.
A ‘large amount’ of equipment was found to be missing, which was traced to a property on Union Street, where 39-year-old Andrew Scholfield lived.
Scholfield, who gave his nationality as ‘Terran’, pleaded guilty to a charge of handling stolen goods.
Prosecuting, Julie Sullivan explained that officers ‘acting on information received’ attended Scholfield’s home. He was not there, but another resident let the officers in and told them that he had seen Scholfield and another man in the communal room with a trench coat and police helmet.
An array of police equipment and memorabilia was found in the room, including uniforms, riot shields, old photographs, operation reports, a hand-held radar, a scene of crime investigation kit, an old first aid kit, a laptop, a miniature ornamental police helmet, a bicycle, and a radiation detector.
The officers obtained a warrant for Scholfield’s bedroom, and found even more equipment, including hats, helmets, police books, epaulettes and a gas mask.
A statement from the handyperson who worked at Friar’s Park indicated that the items had been taken from all over the building, including the former police museum.
Scholfield was arrested and made no comment in a police interview. The court heard that he was currently subject to a community order for harassment.
Ms Sullivan told magistrates that no valuation for the stolen materials had been provided by Dyfed-Powys Police, which made it ‘a bit difficult to assess’ the level of harm caused. However, she estimated that the goods would be valued at between one and ten thousand pounds.
Scholfield’s solicitor Grayson Tanner said that his client suffered with mental health issues including stress and PTSD.
Following a report from the probation service, Scholfield was sentenced to four months of electronically monitored curfew between 9pm and 7am and ordered to pay costs of £85 and an £85 victim surcharge.
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