A gang has been convicted of a large-scale conspiracy to burgle more than 70 houses across a large area of Wales.
For six months the men plundered scores of properties from Llanelli to Porthcawl and Maesteg, stealing many tens of of thousand of pounds worth of gold jewellery along with large amounts of cash, and expensive cars.
Five men were convicted of being part of the conspiracy following a lengthy trial at Swansea Crown Court .
Two other defendants were acquitted.
Another two people were convicted of handling stolen goods in relation to items stolen from the burglaries, while a third was found not guilty of this offence.
The convictions follow a major operation by police in Swansea called Operation Timea. As part of that investigation officers carried out a raid at the travellers site on Mill Stream Way in Swansea Vale in January this year where objects from nine of the burglaries were found, as well as amounts of cash. In one caravan police found thousands of pounds hidden under a false floor under a cupboard.
During the raid police also found a number of caravans at the site - which has the status of "unauthorised but tolerated" - were themselves stolen.
In one burglary alone - committed in Skewen, Neath - the gang got away with £70,000 worth of jewellery, while in another raid a bedroom which had been left untouched since the death of the homeowners' son was ransacked.
Kieran Joyce, aged 28, Patrick Joyce, aged 21, Daniel Joyce, aged 36, William Joyce, 24, and a youth who cannot be named because of his age carried out scores of burglaries between July 2018 and January 2019.
The gang used a series of stolen cars on false number plates to get to and from the break-ins, and while one of the group stayed in the vehicles acting as lookout and getaway driver the others would smash their way into the properties and ransack bedrooms looking for gold and cash.
They would often carry out half-a-dozen or more burglaries in one day. After a spate of burglaries they would lie low for weeks or months before returning to business.
The gang usually targeted houses where they believed the occupants had large amounts of gold jewellery, or those where older victims lived.
Often bleach or other cleaning products were used to try to cover their tracks, and to frustrate forensic evidence gathering.
From a number of the houses they took cars which they subsequently fitted with stolen or cloned plates and used in other break-ins.
Two defendants who had been accused of being part of the conspiracy - Terrence Casey, aged 20, of Mynells Gorse travellers site, Golf Course Lane, Leicester, 40-year-old James Joyce, of Llangyfelach, Road, Brynhyfryd, Swansea - were found not guilty by the jury.
Two other defendants were convicted of handling stolen goods in relation to items taken during the burglaries - Mary Connors, aged 23, of Rhossilly Avenue, Rumney, Cardiff , and Christine Joyce, aged 59, of Millstream Way travellers site, Swansea Vale. Kieran Joseph Joyce, aged 59, of Millstream Way travellers site, Swansea Vale, was acquitted of the same charge.
Kieran Joyce, of Mynells Gorse travellers site, Golf Course Lane, Leicester, Patrick Joyce, of HMP Onley, Northamptonshire, Daniel Joyce, of Millstream Way travellers site, Swansea Vale, William Joyce, of HMP Swansea, and the teenager who cannot be named will be sentenced at a future date.
Sentencing was also adjourned in the cases of Connors, and of Christine Joyce.
