Dangerous British criminal living in Thailand for 18 months had committed 4 ram raids by driving powerful cars into buildings and burglarising them. His last and ultimately fruitless escapade in Newton Abbot, a market town in Devon on December 10th, caused $140,000 worth of damage. The crime was committed only a month after the man had been released early from prison.
UK Police officers in South Devon on Saturday were full of praise for Thailand’s immigration police when they announced the ‘arrest of the year’ of a dangerous, hardened criminal shipped quickly back to prison in the United Kingdom after hiding in Thailand to avoid his fate for a year and a half.
An inveterate British criminal was handed over to UK police in South Devon on Saturday morning and later taken to prison to begin a seven and a half year sentence imposed on him in absentia in June last year.
43-year-old Dylan Taylor had absconded to Thailand while on bail before being found guilty of a dangerous ram-raid of a supermarket outlet in December 2018 which caused nearly ฿5 million in damage or £140,000.
43-year-old Dylan Taylor handed over to local UK police on Saturday after being deported from Thailand
Police in the UK on Saturday expressed delight at having the fugitive back behind bars where he belongs and described his capture as the ‘best arrest of the year’ after Thai immigration police arrested him in Chonburi and deported him back to the UK having been informed of his presence by UK authorities.
18 months spent in Thailand avoiding justice
It is understood that Mr Taylor had somehow managed to obtain a valid visa to remain in Thailand for the 18 months he spent in the kingdom avoiding justice back home.
Thai authorities cancelled the visa after they arrested the UK man and processed his deportation back to southern England.
Police in Devon cock a hoop after Mr Taylor is lodged in prison to serve his 8 year prison sentence
On Saturday, the South Devon Crime and Proactive Police team were cock-a-hoop as they took custody of the convicted criminal on his arrival back from Thailand.
They were equally delighted to inform him that in addition to his seven and a half year sentence, he would also be facing an extra four months for skipping bail.
Disappeared before sentencing in June 2018
Taylor from Lichfield Avenue in Torquay, had disappeared weeks before being sentenced by Exeter Crown Court to a long prison stretch.
He left a note suggesting that he just needed some time to sort himself out and would surrender later.
Ram raided a Co-op shop in a UK town causing £140,000 in damage – walked away only with injury
The hardened criminal had ‘ram raided’ a Co-op shop in the Trago Mills Shopping complex in Newton Abbot with a Mitsubishi Shogun 4X4 in the early hours of December 2018 as part of a gang.
Police described the attack as a well planned and professional job.
Unfortunately for Taylor and his criminal pals, they were forced to run away empty-handed. The ceiling of the property had fallen in on them as their attempt to use a rope to pull an ATM machine from its position spectacularly failed.
The botched raid caused £100,000 in damage to the building and a further £40,000 in loss of income for the forced closure of the shop.
In fact, it appears that Taylor was injured in the raid and police found his blood on the ATM machine.
Only just released on licence from prison
The raid occurred just a month after he had been released on licence from prison.
The UK man had conducted three earlier ram raids using cars to drive into buildings. One of these was crime similar to that in December last year when in 2014 Taylor ram raided a post office on Christmas Day.
It is quite amazing that later and in spite of all this, this dangerous and reprehensible villain was allowed out on bail before sentencing allowing him to slip off to sunny Thailand.
This says quite a lot about the state of the UK justice system.
Told the jury he was an innocent man
Taylor had argued to the jury in court that he was innocent concerning the raid last December. He claimed he was at home in his mother’s home where he fell asleep.
He told the incredulous jury that the blood found on the ATM machine was found there only because he had retrieved cash from the same machine just previous to the raid.
The commonsensical UK jury did not buy his concocted story and convicted him.
Barrister defended Taylor – ‘failed by the system’
Nevertheless, Taylor was represented in court by Southampton barrister Charles Cochand who told the court that 43-year-old Dylan Taylor had been ‘failed by the system’ and that this was what had brought him to this unfortunate predicament.
The barrister told the judge that because the Torquay man had spent so many years in prison, it had been particularly difficult to get a job.
From our perspective, we can only say the on Saturday that Royal Thai Police Immigration Bureau did a good job by removing this dangerous and malformed individual from the kingdom.
Further reading:
UK man arrested on drugs charges by CSD police in Pattaya claims ex Thai wife set him up
UK drug dealers living it up in Thailand to be deported back to the UK after arrests in Pattaya
