Two members of a professional burglary gang who travelled from Yorkshire in a stolen van to Mid Wales and struck at the premises of a motorcycle business were caught thanks to a sophisticated security system installed after a previous raid.

Victim Tracey Hughes later told police that if the gang had been successful then it could have put her out of business.

She ran Freestyle Motorcycles on the St Giles Industrial Estate, at Newtown, which sold off-road motorcycles and associated equipment, explained prosecuting barrister Ember-Jade Wong at Mold Crown Court.

Following a previous burglary a sophisticated security system had been installed which alerted the owner on her mobile phone if anything was amiss.

In the early hours of August 10 she received an alert and when she checked the CCTV system, she could see four men outside the premises and she could hear the sound of cutting equipment.

Police arrived quickly and one man was seen crouched near the door with the hood of his camouflage jacket up and he was tazered.

It turned out that Shaun Kelly was on bail for another burglary at the time.

Kelly, 32, of Ash Grove in Rawnmarch, Rotherham, admitted attempted burglary at the motorcycle business and another burglary at industrial premises in Rotherham and was jailed for nine months.

Judge Niclas Parry told him that the most serious offence was the planned, pre-meditated attempted burglary in Mid Wales which he said was awash with aggravating features.

They had travelled from Yorkshire to Mid Wales in a stolen vehicle to burgle premises which they were clearly aware of and had decided to target.

He said that the identity of that vehicle had been disguised with the number plates covered and he had acted as part of a gang of four.

They had cutting gear and other equipment, and they disguised their faces with face masks.

“You had no regard for this individual working hard to make a living,” he said.

If the burglary had been successful then that would have been the end of her livelihood.

“Small businesses in Mid Wales are regularly targeted by professional burglars from outside the area, some travelling, like you, very far,” he said.

“They will be protected.”

Kelly, he said, had a poor record with 22 previous convictions including burglary.

He would get credit for his guilty pleas and the fact that 10 years had passed since he seriously offended before. But it was so serious that it had to be immediate custody.

A warrant was issued for the arrest of a second man who had admitted the attempted burglary but who failed to attend court.

Defending barrister Jonathan Austin, for Kelly, said that his client’s only explanation, such as it was, was that he returned from work and found the premises where he lived boarded up – and he had lost everything.

It led to a downward spiral in his behaviour when he lost his relationship and his job – and he fell to temptation.

He was now working again, with a road surfacing company.