A Dunfermline heroin dealer was busted after his partner was caught selling more than £1,200 worth of stolen jewellery.
Joanne McIntosh told staff at a Ramsdens branch in the town’s Kingsgate shopping centre the jewellery – including an 18 carat sovereign coin and 14 carat ring – had belonged to her gran and she was selling it to “pay for her funeral”.
Police later distributed a list of the stolen items to local jewellers.
It was recognised by a Ramsdens employee, who alerted police.
Suspicious shop staff
Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court heard a house in Lochgelly’s Station Road had been broken into in July last year and jewellery had been stolen.
Procurator fiscal depute Freya Anderson-Ward said a former co-accused, Craig Russell, has since pled guilty to this offence.
The depute fiscal said: “Around 12.50pm on the same date, the accused Joanne McIntosh went into Ramsdens in the Kingsgate, Dunfermline and told a branch assistant she was looking to sell her late gran’s jewellery to pay for her funeral and produced a number of items of jewellery from a canvas bag.
“Joanne McIntosh received £1,257 in cash for these items.
“The store assistant was suspicious and saw the accused separating out the £257 from the £1,000, as if the larger sum was for something else.
“Thereafter, police distributed a list of stolen items to local jewellers.
“The branch assistant became aware of the list a couple of weeks later upon returning from leave and contacted the police, returning the items to them.”
Heroin found
Ms Anderson-Ward told the court police carried out a search of McIntosh’s home in Headwell Avenue, where she lives with partner Derek Bryce, on August 7.
A bag of brown powder was discovered in the pocket of Bryce’s shorts, along with scales and a mobile phone.
The bag was analysed and found to contain heroin with an estimated street value of £275.
Bryce’s mobile phone was also found to contain messages relating to the sale and supply of the class A drug.
The pair appeared together for sentencing at Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court.
Bryce, aged 35, previously admitted being concerned in the supply of heroin between August 5 and August 7 last year.
McIntosh, aged 46, pled guilty to the reset of a quantity of jewellery which was dishonestly appropriated by theft by housebreaking.
Sheriff Craig McSherry sentenced McIntosh to carry out 150 hours of unpaid work as part of a two-year community payback order, which he said is a direct alternative to custody.
Bryce was sentenced to a community payback order with a supervision and contact requirement to last two years, again as a direct alternative to custody.
Defence lawyers for Bryce and McIntosh said both their clients had experienced difficult childhoods.
