A MAN smashed a window and a door of two Cardigan town centre businesses while he was subject to a suspended sentence for a crime spree across Pembrokeshire and Ceredigion.

Aeron Castle, 29, of Glannant in Llechryd, appeared at Swansea Crown Court charged with two offences of criminal damage and of breaching a suspended sentence order.

Prosecutor Regan Walters told the court that a woman locked up a commercial property on Pendre in Cardigan at around 5pm on March 5. But when she returned the next morning, she found a glass pane on the front door was cracked.

Mr Walters said the damage was estimated to cost £370.20 to repair.

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Also on March 6, the owner of a Chinese restaurant on Pendre found the front window of the shop had been damaged.

The owner said the window had been “unique” and in a “very specific” style.

CCTV footage which covered the two properties showed Castle kicking the glass. He was identified by the police, and was arrested on March 8.

As he was arrested, he denied that he had caused the damage, and answered no comment in his interview.

Castle had four previous convictions for 13 offences. The court heard that he was serving a suspended sentence for a crime spree throughout Pembrokeshire and Ceredigion which involved him and his co-defendant stealing a Land Rover and a Ford Focus, two air rifles, knives, an iPad, and attempting to steal a taxi.

He was sentenced to 15 months, suspended for 24 months, on November 24.

“By the commission of the current offences, the defendant stands in breach of the suspended sentence order,” Mr Walters said.

Castle later pleaded guilty to two offences of criminal damage.

Jon Tarrant, in mitigation, said: “When I dealt with him last year, he clearly displayed signs of addiction. He was sweating. He was unkempt.

“His appearance [now] is radically different to how it was.”

Mr Tarrant said Castle had been engaging with his post-sentence supervision and had been seeking out education opportunities.

He said the defendant had tested negative for drugs “for the last two to three weeks” and had now been living with his step-mother.

“Drugs are simply not tolerated in her household,” Mr Tarrant said.

The judge, Recorder Caroline Rees KC, decided not to activate Castle’s suspended sentence.

“There is a real risk you will lapse,” she said.

Castle will be subject to a six-month curfew from 7pm to 7am for breaching his suspended sentence, and was sentenced to a six-month community order as well as additional rehabilitation activity requirement for the criminal damage charges.