A Romanian man caught with £500-worth of stolen scrap metal has been ordered to carry out unpaid work.
Cristian Mitroi admitted taking the metal from a yard on Auchterarder’s Abbey Road on March 1 last year.
The 26-year-old was found with two other men in a Ford Transit van which had numerous bags of scrap in the rear.
At Perth Sheriff Court, Sheriff Janys Scott ordered him to carry out 100 hours of unpaid work.
Depute fiscal Stuart Richardson said Mitroi had been apprehended by officers patrolling the area in the early hours of the morning.
He said: “The premises is a storage yard on the outskirts of Auchterarder where plant machinery and also a quantity of scrap metal is kept.
“The owner of the premises had secured it upon leaving.
“At about 4.30am two police officers came across a Ford Transit containing three gentlemen. They checked the van, where they discovered 15 bags of assorted scrap metal. The owner valued it at £500.”
Solicitor Mark Alder, defending, said Mitroi, of Clarance Avenue, Birmingham, had moved to the UK in search of work.
However, he was unable to secure a job and did not have the funds to return to Romania, leading him to steal the scrap.
He said he has since settled in England and is self-employed in the joinery trade.