Jail for conspirators of £1 million tin theft

A group of men who conspired to steal tin ingots in Carmarthenshire have been sentenced for the theft of metal worth over £1,000,000.

Employees Thomas Ashford, Stewart Jones and Richard Jones, along with co-defendant Matthew Membury, hatched a plan to steal tin from Tata Steel’s Trostre site, using a cloned security pass to access deliveries the day after they were received.

Dyfed-Powys Police were made aware of the offences in October 2024, when a report of ‘large scale theft’ was made. The caller reported that each time a delivery of tin ingots had been received at the Tata Steel site over the past five months, one or two tonne blocks were missing by the following day.

At the point of the report being made, it was estimated that ingots worth around £500,000 had been stolen over 13 incidents.

It was suspected that a van was being driven onto the site using a cloned security pass under the name David Davies during the early morning the day after deliveries were made.

Security supervisor Stewart Jones and cast house supervisor Thomas Ashford were alleged to be allowing entry and opening the warehouse, where one or two tin blocks were loaded onto the van using a forklift.

Police made arrangements to monitor deliveries and access card activations at the site, and at 5.31am on October 11, 2024, officers were made aware that the suspect card had been used.

A van was seen entering the premises and was intercepted as it was leaving. One tonne of tin ingot, worth £30,000, was found inside.

The driver, who was later identified as Matthew Membury – along with Ashford and Jones – were arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to commit theft.

A CID-led investigation established through CCTV, financial and digital enquiries that the thefts were taking between three and 18 minutes to be carried out, and that Ashford and Jones had been arriving at work early on the days in question to facilitate the crimes.

The investigation also uncovered that the thefts had been taking place long before the initial report made to police, and had been ongoing since July 2023.

Officers also discovered that another employee – Richard Jones – was involved in the theft of the tin and had not attended work since the arrests of Membury, Ashford and Stewart Jones.

The 39-year-old was found to have been placing the ingots to be stolen to one side, ready for Membury’s arrival. He had received £62,000 for his part.

He was located at his home in Ceri Road, Swansea, in January 2025 and arrested on suspicion of theft.

It was established through financial enquiries that the total profits made between all parties for the stolen ingots was £743,826. The ingots were being melted down and sold at scrap yards across Wales and England.

The four men were charged with conspiracy to commit theft, and admitted the offences at Swansea Crown Court. They received the following sentences on Tuesday, 2 June:

• Stewart Jones, aged 56, of Maeswerdd, Llanelli: 40 months in prison
• Thomas Ashford, aged 36, of St David’s Road, Ammanford: 40 months in prison
• Richard Jones, aged 39, of Ceri Road, Swansea: 20-month prison sentence, suspended for 2 years

Matthew Membury, aged 32, of Cathan Close, Port Mead, will be sentenced at a later date.

Officer in 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.”