'Terrifying' heist saw men in black loot phone shop at Welsh supermarket

A "terrifying" heist saw a group of men dressed in black descend upon a supermarket phone shop in order to steal mobile phones worth £9,000. The looting was captured on CCTV as the thieves kicked and destroyed cases holding the valuable electronics.

Marius Ilie, 22, and Florin Berbescu, 19, and three youths travelled from London to ransack a mobile phone section of a Tesco store in Talbot Green on February 26. Wearing hoods to conceal their identities the group proceeded to damage display shelves and fixtures which contained mobile phones.

A sentencing hearing at Cardiff Crown Court heard the group managed to steal seven Samsung phones, a Samsung tablet, and six iPhones. The total value of these items came to £9,478.

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The five males ran to a parked Audi A3 which drove off at speed and took the wrong side of a roundabout. The vehicle travelled to Llantrisant before meeting up with a BMW containing Aron Petre, 28, and Petrache Mirica, 20. The two cars were stopped on the M4 by stingers and the occupants of the vehicles were arrested.

Ilie, of Brock Road, Plaistow, London, pleaded guilty to theft. Petre and Mirica, of Barking Road, East Ham, London, both pleaded guilty to handling stolen goods. The three youths were dealt with at youth courts.

Ilie is also to be dealt with for a robbery at another phone shop in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, on October 7, 2019, when he and three others kicked at and damaged a display containing electronic devices and stole an iPhone worth £1,229. A staff member was also told: "Get back to the store or we'll hurt you".

In mitigation Alice Sykes, for Ilie, said her client was "utterly ashamed of his actions". She said he was of previous good character and could be dealt with by a suspended sentence. David Leathley, for uncle and nephew Petre and Mirica, claimed his clients had gone to south Wales to purchase a car. He said Mirica has a wife who would be affected by his incarceration as would Petre's children.

Sentencing, Judge Shoman Khan said: "This is no ordinary shop theft – this is behaviour of real concern. Anybody that would have been present at the scene, any member of staff, would have been terrified. The word used was a 'heist' – it seems this behaviour was as if there were no laws. It's as if you are looting – you didn't appear to care, you were brazen in your actions as a group, and it would have been terrifying for everyone around you. Every time I view that footage it makes me extremely concerned about the way the offence was committed."

Ilie was sentenced to a total of 12 months imprisonment, Petre was sentenced to 10 months imprisonment, and Mirica was sentenced to six months imprisonment suspended for 12 months with conditions including 150 hours unpaid work, a five-day rehabilitation activity requirement, and disqualification from driving for six months. Berbescu remains at large and warrant has been issued for his arrest.

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