A COURT has been shown dramatic footage of police breaking through barricades with power saws and tasering a suspect during a siege in Main Street Fishguard last November.

Shane Thomas, whose address was given at a previous court hearing as Wallis Street, Fishguard, appeared for sentencing at Swansea Crown Court on Friday, January 15.

The court heard that the 'siege' in Main Street, Fishguard, on November 14 2020, had followed two assaults in the town on August 31.

In the intervening time Thomas had 'evaded apprehension' and had been placed as wanted on the police national computer.

During the siege 23-year-old Thomas barricaded himself into the Fishguard property, using a fridge, settee, cooker and a mattress among other things.

Prosecutor, Dean Pulling, told the court that Thomas had been out drinking in Bennets on August 31, when he launched an unprovoked attack on a 65-year-old man coming out of the toilet, gouging his eye, grabbing his face and shoving him.

He then headbutted a woman who tried to pull him off his victim, causing her to collapse to the floor. Earlier in the evening he had been involved in an altercation with two different men and had exposed himself to the woman he later assaulted.

The court heard how Thomas had evaded arrest following this incident until the evening of November 14.

On that evening Thomas' girlfriend at the time contacted police. While officers were with her Thomas rang her and threatened 'I'm going to slice your throat while you are sleeping'.

Police learnt that Thomas was at his father's address in Main Street, Fishguard. His father and four teenagers were also at the address. When officers arrived at the property Thomas began to barricade the doors.

He shouted at officers, threatening to hurt them and to 'bottle' any officer who entered.

Main Street was closed off and more police units were called to the scene, including the firearms and dog units and a police helicopter

One of the teenagers began sending messages to his girlfriend saying he was being prevented from leaving the property and asking her to contact the police.

The occupants of the house were ordered into a bedroom upstairs where Thomas told them to barricade the door and arm themselves with bottles.

Firearms officers ended the siege, entering the property at 10pm They had to cut through the front door and the barricade of furniture and appliances with power saws.

The court saw dramatic footage of them entering the house and finding knives and bloody tissues scattered on the floor.

They headed upstairs and cut through the bedroom door which had also been barricaded from the inside.

Officers used two 'distraction devices' that filled the room with smoke. They had to use PAVA spray and taser Thomas twice before they were able to arrest him.

In a police interview Thomas said he had drunk about 15 cans on the night of the incident. He said he had barricaded himself in to 'protect himself from the police as he was scared of them'.

The court heard that the incident had cost Dyfed-Powys Police more than £13,000.

Thomas pleaded guilty to affray in relation to the siege. He had previously admitted sending communication conveying a threatening message, using threatening and abusive words or behaviour with the intent to cause fear of unlawful violence and obstructing a constable in the execution of their duty on November 14 last year, as well as two counts of assault occasioning actual bodily harm in relation to the Bennet's incident.

A not guilty plea to a charge of false imprisonment on the same date was accepted by the prosecution.

Prosecutor, Mr Pulling said that the affray charge was 'all encompassing' regarding the events of the siege.

Chris Tarrant, defending, said that Thomas had not had a good year in 2020 but had since moved back in with his mother and had made positive changes to his lifestyle.

"There is certainly a person inside Mr Thomas who is somewhat different from the individual we have just seen represented," he said.

He added that his client was sorry for the distress that he had caused to the emergency services and that his present girlfriend was now one month pregnant which had been a 'wake up call' to him.

The judge, Mr Recorder RJ Philpotts, imposed a 15 month prison sentence for the affray to run consecutively with a 12 month prison sentence for the assaults, making a total sentence of 27 months. No separate penalties were imposed for the other offences. A five-year restraining order for the assault victims was also imposed.

"You are 23 years of age, you are no longer a child," the judge told Thomas. "What is rightly called a siege lasted for one and a half hours and involved 30 police officers. Your behaviour cost the tax payer in excess of £13,000."