A RAILWAY worker who took part in a night-time smash-and-grab at a Chippenham DIY store has been jailed for a year.

Steven Brewis travelled from his South Wales home in his work van to carry out the raid at B&Q.

CCTV images from the Bath Road store were used to identify the 31-year-old and his accomplice as they stole power drills worth almost £4,000, and the pair were picked up on the M4 near Newport as they headed home in the early hours of the morning.

Hannah Squire, prosecuting, told Swindon Crown Court a window was smashed in the store at about 2.30am on May 31.

She said two men were then seen to go into the shop and pick up 27 power drills, worth a total of £3,909.

About an hour later the van was pulled over as it headed back towards Cardiff and the plundered goods were found in it.

When the footage from the store was looked at again Brewis was identified as one of the raiders and his van was also spotted.

Brewis, of Cardiff, pleaded guilty to one count of burglary. The court heard he had a long history of crime.

He was jailed for two years in April 2010 for a similar offence and has been convicted of shoplifting since the B&Q raid.

Tom Trobe, defending, said his client worked full-time doing nights on the railways and was the sole breadwinner for a family with six children, two of which are his.

“He accepts he made a remarkably foolish decision to help a friend. He accepts the other person would have paid him money,” he said.

He said he did not have problems with drink or drugs, his work means he is regularly swab tested, and had a ‘horrific past’.

Jailing him, Judge Tim Mousley QC said: “In the early hours of May 31 last year you travelled from South Wales to B&Q in Chippenham, specifically for the purpose of committing burglary.

“The way you committed that burglary involved an unsophisticated way of gaining entry to the property.

“Once inside you deliberately only took power tools, and then the two of you, with the stolen goods, made your way back to South Wales.

“I am satisfied that there was a significant degree of planning, there was travel, there was you being recruited to provide transport.”

A warrant was issued for the arrest of a second man from South Wales charged with the robbery after he failed to surrender to bail.