A thief who made off with £500 of cleaning products and other groceries has been jailed.
Stuart Duncan stole the items over two separate visits to a Tesco supermarket on Dunfermline’s Aberdour Road.
Several months later he was also caught trying to steal food from the chain’s store on Winterthur Lane.
Fiscal depute Laura McManus told Dunfermline Sheriff Court on the first occasion Duncan took items worth almost £100.
Days later, he filled a trolley with over £300 of stock and made off.
However on Valentine’s Day last year he was stopped by a security guard.
Ms McManus said: “When CCTV was reviewed there was other items which the accused was seen to put in a back pack and this was not recovered.”
Destitute addict
Solicitor Zander Flett, defending, said Duncan was addicted to drugs at the time of the offence.
He said: “On one occasion that’s his position.
“On the other occasion his benefits had been sanctioned and he had no money to buy food.”
Duncan admitted stealing five bottles of washing liquid and seven packets of meat from Tesco on Dunfermline’s Aberdour Road on October 23 2019.
He returned on October 26 and made off with four bottles of fabric conditioner, four bottles of laundry detergent, three bottles of dishwasher liquid, seven packets of coffee and 20 packets of meat.
On April 14 last year, he stole food from the Tesco store on the town’s Winterthur Lane.
He further admitted racially abusing two people at an address in the town’s Woodmill Crescent on July 14 last year.
Sheriff Alastair Brown said: “Theft by shoplifting costs the retail sector and by extension the public thousands every year and you have been committing theft by shoplifting for a number of years.
“I sympathise with someone who has benefits sanctioned.
“I have sympathy with someone with a drug problem but you don’t solve it by taking others’ property.”
Duncan, of James Bank Hostel, Dunfermline, was jailed for a total of 12 months.
