Faberge jeweller raid men jailed

The robbers smashed the jeweller's in a busy shopping street

Two men who stole £110,000 of jewellery in an "audacious" daylight raid at Cardiff's Clive Ranger shop have been jailed for five-and-a-half years.

Damien Hyde, 26, from Cardiff, and Kyron Rush, 30, from Pontyclun, who previously admitted burglary used sledge hammers in the raid in March.

Among their haul was a Faberge diamond-encrusted egg worth £65,000.

The judge at Cardiff Crown Court said the burglary was a "shocking offence" which "cowed" those who witnessed it.

Prosecutor Julian Greenwood had told the court that the raid was a "remarkably audacious enterprise".

"The defendants bundled out of a car in balaclavas, wearing gloves and wielding a sledge hammer and set about putting the windows through in an archetypal smash and grab," he said.

The getaway car was later found burnt out not far away

Staff at the jewellers and pedestrians who witnessed the burglary were left deeply shocked, Mr Greenwood said.

The pair's get-away car, a Volkswagen Golf stolen from a hire company, was set alight in the Pontcanna area of Cardiff later the same day.

But their botched attempt to dispose of evidence led to Hyde and Rush's arrest as police found a selection of gloves and balaclavas discarded in a garden close by.

Mr Greenwood said glass found on one glove matched smashed window at the Clive Ranger store.

A blood sample on two of the gloves matched Rush's DNA, while saliva on a balaclava matched Hyde's.

Michael Mather-Lees, defending Hyde, said he was "very much the man at the coal face rather than the pit owner".

One of the two Faberge eggs taken (left) was worth £65,000

"He only has himself to blame for what he has done but he was not the engineer of what happened," he added.

The court that Hyde had previous convictions for possessing drugs with intent to supply and was previously jailed for committing grievous bodily harm.

Rush also had previous convictions - for burglary and possession of drugs with intent to supply.

Robert Render, mitigating for Rush, said he had been recruited by to provide transport for the raid.

He said: "He got himself involved in drugs and was spending some £200 a day on drugs.

"Against that backdrop , he had no means of legitimately raising that money."

Judge Neil Bidder QC said: "This is a shocking offence and one which cowed and frightened those who saw it carried out in the middle of Cardiff in broad daylight."

He jailed the men for five-and-a-half years each for burglary and six months concurrently for allowing themselves to be carried in a stolen vehicle.

Both were also disqualified from driving for 12 months.