A Dundee watch repairer faces doing time for conning customers out of tens of thousands of pounds by stealing and pawning dozens of designer watches and jewellery.
Kevin Mitchell, who has two previous convictions for embezzlement and theft, admitted a total of 31 charges of theft of high-value designer items.
They included a haul of Seiko, Omega, Pulsar, Rolex, Accurist, Cartier and Tissot watches, which had been handed in to his shop for repair, service or to sell for the customers.
Mitchell, 50, of Tayport, admitted pawning dozens of his customers’ watches at the Ramsdens shop on High Street, Dundee. Prosecutors said the haul was worth about £54,000 and would have made Mitchell thousands of pounds.
He also stole jewellery and cash from customers, Dundee Sheriff Court heard on Friday.
Depute fiscal Nicola Gillespie told the court: “A lot of the watches are Rolex and that ilk … The accused has gone into Ramsdens and pawned the watches.
“In the other charges we simply don’t know what’s happened to the items.”
Solicitor Ian Houston told the court Mitchell had run a “one-man watch repair business” from his shop in Crichton Street, which closed down after he was sequestrated.
He said his criminal activities began when Mitchell fell into ill health and he lost control of the business.
Sheriff Charles McNair noted Mitchell had two previous analogous convictions, one for embezzlement in 1995, for which he received an alternative to custody sentence, and another for theft in 1998.
He allowed his bail to continue so he could attend a hospital appointment fixed for today but warned Mitchell his chances of not going to jail were “virtually nil” when he returns to court for sentence next month.
For our full report, and the story of one man who lost an “irreplaceable” keepsake, see Saturday’ Courier.