An intruder who stole in a bank card in a knife-point robbery in the victim’s own home used it to buy a lottery scratch card which won him £50, a court has heard. At the time of the robbery Dean Follows was on police bail having been arrested for breaking into the warehouse of a well-known chain of shops.
Swansea Crown Court heard Follows has 69 previous offences on his record including a dozen burglaries and two robberies, one of which saw him fracturing his victim’s skull with a hammer. The 43-year-old’s barrister told the court his client realised he was facing a lengthy prison sentence and feels that at current stage of his life “that may not be a bad thing”.
Georgia Donohue, prosecuting, told the court that at 10pm on April 17 this year the burglar alarm at the CK warehouse in Llanelli was activated, and when the key holder arrived at the scene he found Follows inside the building. The member of staff challenged the intruder who apologised and said he hadn’t taken anything and was only looking for somewhere to sleep. Follows then fled the building. The court heard that when police arrived they found a window had been smashed in the canteen area and it is assumed this was how Follows had gained entry.
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The prosecutor said the defendant was identified as the intruder and the following day he was spotted by a police officer on New Dock Road in Llanelli. He was arrested and in interview gave a prepared statement accepting going into the warehouse but denying causing any damage and saying he was only looking for a place to stay. He was subsequently released on bail. For the latest court reports, sign up to our crime newsletter here
The court heard Follow’s second piece of offending occurred three months later at a house of multiple occupancy in Llanelli. The court heard one of the flats in the building was empty and the defendant had been sleeping in it, and then on the night of July 17 he entered another flat in the building armed with a knife. Miss Carpanini said at around 11pm the occupant heard a “bang” and found Follows in his bedroom rummaging through his bedside cabinet. Brandishing the knife the defendant demanded to know where the victim’s money was kept.
The court heard Follows escaped with £60 in cash and the victim’s bank card, reading glasses, and phone along with a bottle of aftershave. A short time after the robbery Follows arrived at a nearby Londis shop in a taxi and got £20 cashback and bought a lottery scratch card – a scratchie which won him £50.
Follows was spotted by police in Llanelli town centre the following day and arrested. When searched he was found to have a knife in the waistband of his trousers. The defendant answered “no comment” to all questions asked in his subsequent interview. The court heard the victim of the robbery later told police the incident had been very upsetting and that he had genuinely thought the intruder was going to “use the knife on him”.
Dean John Follows, of no fixed abode, had previous pleaded guilty to burglary, criminal damage, robbery, fraud – the use of the stolen card – and possession of a bladed article when he returned to the dock for sentencing. He has 39 previous convictions for 69 offences including 12 burglaries, possession of bladed articles, affray, supply a drug of Class C, assault occasioning actual bodily harm, and robberies in 2000 and 2004.
In one of the robberies, Follows entered the flat of a couple in their 60s and used claw hammer to fracture the husband’s skull before pushing the wife over and stealing her handbag. He received a five year prison sentence at Swansea Crown Court for that offence. The Attorney General subsequently challenged the sentence as being “unduly lenient” but the Court of Appeal ruled that while it was lenient it was no unduly so and it declined to interfere with the original sentence.
In 2021 Follows was jailed for 12 months for burgling a house in Burry Port in the dead of night while a dad and his daughters were asleep upstairs and stealing a haul of items including a watch which belonged to the homeowner’s late father and which had huge sentimental value.
Tim Naylor, for Follows, said the the defendant had first come before the courts at the age of 12 and said a pre-sentence report detailed how his history of offending was linked to his alcohol and substance misuse. He said the defendant realised he was facing a lengthy custodial sentence and feels “at this stage in his life that may not be a bad thing” in that it would allow him to take steps in changing his life.
Judge Paul Thomas KC said he had no doubt that when Follows entered the CK warehouse in April his intention had been to steal such items as he could. He said having been arrested and bailed the defendant continued to offend, entering a man’s home with a knife and making threats of violence. The judge said he had asked the author of the pre-sentence report to consider whether Follows should be categorised as a dangerous offender and while he was grateful for the report he said given the 20-year gap since the defendant’s last robbery he was not minded to impose an extended sentence. With discounts for his guilty pleas. Follows was sentenced to six years in prison. He will serve two-thirds of that period in custody before being released on licence to serve the remainder in the community.
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