A Gwynedd town’s network of CCTV cameras run by local volunteers has had its biggest success when it tracked a thief stealing £38,000 of goods from a Barmouth business.

It is just one of the crime-fighting triumphs that has turned the seaside resort into one of the most law-abiding in north Wales.

The 48 cameras run by Gwarchod Bermo Watch have seen crime detection in the town rise by 70 per cent and attracted a £2,500 grant from North Wales Police and Crime Commissioner Arfon Jones.

He visited the town at the height of the holiday season to see just how well the scheme is operating and to speak to the volunteers who run it and local police officers for whom it has become an important tool of the job.

That recent success saw a thief who stole £38,000 from a Barmouth business caught on film making off with his haul, identified and brought to court where he received a jail sentence.

Gwarchod Bermo Watch founder Deana Davies Fisher, from Talybont, said: “We picked him up on camera making numerous trips up and down an alley carrying bags and putting them in his car.

“Because of that we were able to identify him, the police brought him to justice and he was sent to prison.”

Earlier this year, Gwarchod Bermo Watch was voted one of the Gwynedd winners in the Police Commissioner’s Your Community Your Choice awards which earned the scheme that cash prize.

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