A career thief who raided a 90-year-old woman’s home in a bid to feed his drug habit has been jailed for 16 months.
John Jeffries reached a new low when he targeted his partner’s elderly mother after falling into the depths of heroin withdrawal.
After his girlfriend refused to ask her mother for a loan to enable him to score a fix, he took her keys and made an early-morning visit to the complainer’s home in Perth.
While she hung out washing, he entered the house and stole an Xbox and games belonging to the pensioner’s grandson his partner’s son and fled.
Perth Sheriff Court was told that the 43-year-old had then rushed into the centre of Perth to trade his haul valued at £530 for a mere £150.
Solicitor David Holmes said his client had bought heroin “immediately” and relieved his symptoms.
When police officers investigated the theft, they discovered no signs of forced entry at the house and suspicion swiftly fell upon Jeffries.
Those suspicions were confirmed when he left a receipt for the console and games lying discarded at his partner’s home.
“This incident occurred after he asked his partner for money so that he could buy drugs though his true wish was to be back on a methadone prescription,” Mr Holmes said.
“When this did not happen, he took the items with the intention of giving his next benefits payment to his partner so that she could buy back the console.
“He had been in a relationship with this lady for a number of years and was very close with members of her family, but his actions brought that to an end.
“He very much regrets this.”
Jeffries, described as a prisoner at Perth, admitted entering premises in Perth on May 22 to steal an Xbox One and a quantity of games.
The theft was the latest in a lengthy criminal career. The record put before the court detailed 40 previous convictions and 128 individual offences, mostly for crimes of dishonesty, including theft, shoplifting and burglary.