A man who carried out a knifepoint robbery at a convenience store before threatening police with the blade has been made subject to an indefinite order under the Mental Health Act. Police were looking for Joel Thomas after he set fire to the flat where he was staying when he walked into a busy shop armed with a large knife and demanded money.
Swansea Crown Court heard the defendant has a history of offences of robbery and attempted robbery, and a judge said it was clear he poses a significant danger to the public. In passing sentence, the judge said his overwhelming priority was to ensure the safety of the public, and he said it may be that the 38-year-old is never released.
The Arson Incident
Craig Jones, prosecuting, told the court that on the night of October 18, 2024, police in Swansea received a 999 call from a number linked to the defendant in which he threatened that the place where he was calling from would go up in smoke. As a result of the call, officers began trying to find the defendant.
The court heard that the following morning, while officers were still trying to locate the defendant, police received reports of a fire at a flat above a commercial property on Stepney Street in the Cwmbwrla area of the city. When emergency services arrived on the scene, they found the fire was well alight. It emerged that the flat belonged to Thomas' cousin, who had been allowing him to stay there as he had nowhere to go.
The Robbery and Arrest
The prosecutor said the search for Thomas continued, and the following day police began to receive calls from members of the public reporting a man on Orchard Street in the city centre carrying a large knife. Police then received a call for help from staff at the CK store opposite the city's High Street railway station.
The court heard the defendant had gone into the shop asking for Amber Leaf tobacco and enquiring about how much money he could get using the cash back facility before demanding money from the till and producing a knife. An enraged Thomas then forced his way behind the counter and started kicking the till, eventually opening the cash register and helping himself to £935.
The prosecutor said Thomas was still in the shop when the first police units arrived on the scene, and he began shouting at officers saying, I've had enough of you lot. The defendant then waved the knife at a female officer and advanced towards her before an incapacitant spray was used in a bid to subdue him. However, Thomas continued to wave the knife around before running out of the shop, where he was tackled, disarmed, and arrested.
In his subsequent police interview, the defendant admitted starting the flat fire using an aerosol can, and he told officers he had been hearing voices. The court heard that the cost of repairing the fire and smoke damage to the Cwmbwrla property was around £20,000.
Previous Convictions
Joel John Thomas, of Denver Road, Fforestfach, Swansea, had previously pleaded guilty to arson, possession of a knife, and robbery when he appeared for sentencing via videolink from a secure mental health unit. He has more than 40 previous offences on his record, including seven burglaries, possession of heroin with intent to supply, possession of a bladed article, shoplifting, robbery, and public disorder.
In 2015, he was sentenced to 42 months in prison for mugging a woman in her 60s at a bus stop on Neath Road in Landore and snatching her bag. In 2021, he was sentenced to 40 months in prison for attempted robbery after threatening to kill the lone female member of staff on duty at the Applegreen petrol station on Carmarthen Road in Fforestfach and demanding money.
Mental Health Assessment
The court heard that two psychiatrists one instructed by the prosecution and one by the defence had concluded that Thomas was suffering from a long-standing psychotic condition which manifested itself in hallucinations, paranoia, emotional dysregulation, persecutory beliefs, and PTSD-related symptoms. Giving evidence, consultant psychiatrist Dr Hasanen Al-Taiar confirmed that he believed the defendant was a vulnerable individual with chronic, severe mental illness.
Andrew Evans, for Thomas, said the defendant would welcome any help that was made available to him.
The Sentence
Judge Paul Thomas KC said in the normal course of events, a defendant in Thomas' position would be facing a lengthy extended custodial sentence as a dangerous offender, but he said it was clear from everything he had read that Thomas had a constellation of very severe mental health issues and that two psychiatrists had recommended a hospital order as the best disposal.
The judge said there was no doubt that the defendant poses a significant danger to the public, and said his overwhelming duty was to sentence Thomas in a way that best protected the public. He said to that end, he would follow the recommendations of the psychiatrists.
Thomas was made the subject of a section 37 hospital order under the Mental Health Act combined with a section 41 restriction order without limitation of time. The judge told the defendant that his release from a secure mental health unit if he ever is released would only happen when his treating clinicians are satisfied that the risks he poses to the public have been reduced to an acceptable level.
Judge Thomas said it was astonishing that the defendant had been charged with simple arson in relation to the flat fire rather than a form of arson involving the endangerment of life.
