A brazen thief made off with a woman’s jewellery box and perfume after sneaking into her bedroom.
Prolific offender Douglas Laidlaw, 40, was chased from the scene, yards from his home in Dundee’s West End.
The woman was reunited with her possessions after panicking Laidlaw dropped them as he fled.
Laidlaw, who had recently been released from custody, has now been given another jail term after admitting the theft at Dundee Sheriff Court.
‘Someone’s in my house!’
Prosecutor Rachel Hill revealed how the woman and another witness were in the address at Pennycook Court when she heard a noise from the bedroom at around 5.30pm.
Miss Hill said: “The witness walked from the living room and into the bedroom.
“She observed the accused standing behind the door.
“She ran back into the living room shouting ‘someone’s in my house!’
“The accused ran out and the other witness ran after him.”
Laidlaw dropped the items as he was chased on foot and was lost to sight after jumping over a fence.
The woman discovered a glass mirror, bottles of perfume and a jewellery box containing watches had been stolen.
‘I’ve no’ got any jewellery or that’
Police caught up with Laidlaw a few hours later at his home on Step Row.
Following his arrest, he stated: “I’ve no’ got any jewellery or that.”
He was taken to Kittybrewster Police Office in Aberdeen, where he acted aggressively and threatened to harm himself.
Laidlaw appeared from custody to admit the thefts.
Solicitor Kevin Hampton said Laidlaw had been struggling to cope with life following his release from prison on May 14.
He told Sheriff John Rafferty: “Mr Laidlaw has very little recollection of what happened. He has been staying off drugs but, foolishly, he took some alcohol and does not ordinarily take alcohol.
“It was a fairly opportunistic crime.”
Laidlaw was jailed for 200 days.
