A man broke into his ex-partner’s house while under the influence of Valium and stole an Amazon smart speaker.
Dundee Sheriff Court heard that Raymond Henderson, 41, crept into the property in Montrose’s Provost Reid’s Road sometime between December 31 last year and January 2, knocking items into the sink and leaving a muddy trail in his wake.
While there, he swiped the smart speaker, later leaving it with a friend, before returning to the property when his ex was at home.
The light-fingered thief, who has 54 previous convictions, was jailed for 16 months for theft and breaching a non-harassment order.
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Fiscal depute Marie Irvine told the court: “At around 4.50pm on December 31 the complainer left the locus and left the kitchen window ajar on the latch, locking the front door securely.
“At 3.15pm on January 2 she returned home and discovered the door was insecure and that it had been opened from the inside.”
It later emerged that the Echo Dot was missing.
“The complainer went into the kitchen and saw mud on the window ledge and items knocked into the sink,” Ms Irvine added.
“There was a knock at the door and the accused was in the doorway. At this time he handed two toy cars over and asked if he could come in.
“At this time she contacted police. A search was made of the accused that proved negative.”
Following an investigation, a friend of Henderson’s told officers that the thief had left the device with him, and had suggested to him that it had been stolen.
Henderson, a prisoner at HMP Perth, admitted breaking into the flat and stealing the smart speaker. He also admitted breaching a non-harassment order by attending at his ex-partner’s home and conversing with her.
Solicitor Billy Rennie, in mitigation, said the dad had struggled to deal with the break-up with his ex following a seven-year relationship that ended in 2017.
Mr Rennie said: “He doesn’t recall breaking into the house – he believes he was under the influence of Valium at the time. He’s had mental health problems over the years.
“He’s aware the only option is a custodial disposal.”
Sheriff Lorna Drummond, presiding, said the breach of the non-harassment order – the fourth such breach since it was issued in August – was “causing the court a lot of concern”.
She told him: “You’re not able to comply with court orders – for that reason and the matter of theft by housebreaking, there isn’t any alternative than to send you to jail.”
Henderson was jailed for 10 months for housebreaking and six months for breaching the order, reduced respectively from 15 months and nine months, for a total of 16 months.
The sentence was backdated to his initial remand date of January 13.
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