MEN who conspired to steal more than £1m worth of tin ingots from Tata Steel’s Trostre site in Llanelli have been sentenced.
The conspiracy involved Tata employees Thomas Ashford, Stuart Jones and Richard Jones, together with co-defendant Matthew Membury.
Swansea Crown Court heard the men used a cloned security pass to access the site after deliveries had been received, before loading one or two-tonne blocks of tin into a van.
Dyfed-Powys Police were alerted in October 2024 after Tata Steel reported a suspected large-scale theft from the Llanelli site.
The company told officers that each time a delivery of tin ingots arrived, one or two blocks were missing by the following day. At that stage, around £500,000 worth of metal was believed to have been stolen across 13 incidents.
Police suspected that a van was being driven onto the site in the early hours using a cloned security pass under the name David Davies.
Security supervisor Stuart Jones and cast house supervisor Thomas Ashford were alleged to have allowed entry to the site and opened the warehouse, where the tin was loaded using a forklift.
Officers monitored deliveries and access card activations, and at 5:31am on October 11, 2024, were alerted that the suspect card had been used.
A van was seen entering the premises and was intercepted as it left. Inside, officers found one tonne of tin ingot worth £30,000.
Membury, who was driving the van, was arrested along with Ashford and Stuart Jones on suspicion of conspiracy to commit theft.
A CID investigation, using CCTV, financial records and digital evidence, established that the thefts took between three and 18 minutes to carry out.
Officers found Ashford and Stuart Jones had been arriving at work early on the days in question to help facilitate the offences.
The investigation also revealed the conspiracy had been running since July 2023, long before the initial report to police.
Another Tata employee, Richard Jones, was later found to have been involved. Police said he had placed ingots to one side ready for Membury’s arrival and had received £62,000 for his part.
Jones, aged 39, of Ceri Road, Swansea, was arrested at his home in January 2025.
Financial enquiries established that the total profit made from the stolen ingots was £743,826. The metal was melted down and sold at scrap yards across Wales and England.
All four men admitted conspiracy to commit theft at Swansea Crown Court.
On Tuesday (June 2), Stuart Jones, aged 56, of Maeswerdd, Llanelli, was jailed for 40 months.
Thomas Ashford, aged 36, of St David’s Road, Ammanford, was also jailed for 40 months.
Richard Jones, aged 39, of Ceri Road, Swansea, was given a 20-month prison sentence, suspended for two years.
Matthew Membury, aged 32, of Cathan Close, Port Mead, will be sentenced at a later date.
Officer in the case Detective Sergeant Jake Thomas said: “This is an excellent example of proactive work involving multiple departments, which resulted in the identification of a number of offenders who were intercepted in the act of carrying out their crime.
“I would like to thank everyone involved who worked on this investigation, as well as staff at Tata Steel for their assistance while we carried out enquiries.
“I am pleased that justice has taken its part following what was a prolonged and complex conspiracy, which has resulted in a large loss to a locally based and well-known company.”
