A “sophisticated” night-time raid on a historic Perthshire estate cost taxpayers around £21,000.
Rolands Zeiliss was part of a fly-by-night gang who plundered tonnes of metal from an old stables building at Belmont Castle, near Meigle, which has links to Shakespeare’s Macbeth and a former British Prime Minister.
He was snared by police after leaving his fingerprints on a broken security camera.
The 37-year-old painter and decorator, from Aberdeen, was found guilty of the theft after a two-day trial at Perth Sheriff Court.
He failed to persuade a jury that his DNA was left at the scene because someone else was using his gloves.
Zeiliss returned to the dock on Friday and was jailed for 18 months.
Cost to tax-payers
The B-listed stables building is insured by owners Dundee City Council for £1 million.
Sheriff William Wood told Zeiliss: “You come before the court with a good deal of baggage.
“Although – with some hesitation – I accept that none of your previous offending has been particularly serious, in that you have never spent more than six months in jail.
“And I am happy to accept that you are loving and committed father.
“But this was a sophisticated operation.
“This required people to get together to form a plan, to allocate tasks and take down CCTV cameras before lead was stripped off the roof.
“I understand that your position is that you didn’t do any of that.
“And yet you offered a plea of guilty before the trial, which was rejected.
“Those two positions are difficult to reconcile.”
The sheriff added: “The overall loss to the taxpayer was around £21,000.
“And against that background only a custodial sentence can be appropriate.”
CCTV cameras found dumped
Zeiliss was found guilty of stealing lead from the administration building on January 7, 2020.
Jurors found two other allegations of theft – including a raid on the site’s Gardener’s Cottage – was not proven.
The trial heard council housing officer Scott McPherson was alerted by security company Robowatch, which monitors CCTV cameras at the site.
He visited the stables and found new cameras which were installed after a previous raid in November had been pulled off the wall.
They were later found dumped in bushes nearby.
Jurors heard Zeiliss’s DNA was found on one of the units.
He later told police that he might have been on holiday in Latvia at the time.
But he told the trial he could have returned to Scotland a few days earlier.
“I don’t remember when I came back to be honest,” he said.
Zeiliss said it was a “possibility” that his work gloves may have been used by the person responsible for the thefts.
He said he had been worked on a building site in Edinburgh, adding: “We change gloves every day.”
Historic location
The Belmont Castle estate was famously once home to British Prime Minister Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman, who is buried at a nearby churchyard.
According to legend, Macbeth made his last stand at the castle. A large cup-and-ring marked stone, known as Macbeth’s Stone, lies at one of the estate entrances.
