A BURGLAR who netted £10,725 when he targeted pubs, hotels and a café across north Wales, including a Barmouth hotel, was jailed for five years at Caernarfon Crown Court.

Martin Ward, 42, of no fixed address, was described by Judge Huw Rees as a seasoned burglar and thief “and thoroughly dishonest”.

Licensees had been victims at a time when they were hard pressed, remarked the judge on Thursday.

Ward, said by his barrister Jonathan Austin to have a drug problem, admitted burglaries at Barmouth, Betws-y-Coed, Conwy and Beaumaris and also trying to pass fake £50 notes at Blackpool, having hidden two of them between his buttocks when searched by police.

Jade Tufail, prosecuting, said £5,000 had been stolen from a cabinet at the Tal y Don hotel at Barmouth in an afternoon theft.

CCTV had revealed the defendant going into the safe in the office last autumn while a younger man allegedly made sure the coast was clear.

See this week’s north editions in shops and online on Thursday