An ex-Army sniper staged a series of high-value jewellery and whisky raids in Perthshire while on the run from open prison.
Garry Roughley, 41, got away with more than £76,000 worth of watches, rings and jewellery after staging two break-ins nearly a year apart at an antiques centre near Doune.
He got a further £25,000 worth of expensive whiskies from the Green Welly Stop tourist destination in Tyndrum.
Roughley had earlier, in May 2018, tied up and robbed a pensioner in her home in Fife after absconding from HMP Thorn Cross in Cheshire, where he had been serving a sentence for burglary.
Roughley remained at large for a further two years, despite a large-scale police probe and a Crimewatch TV appeal.
Stirling Sheriff Court heard he committed the high-value business break-ins while still on the run.
High-value raids netted £100k of goods
The court heard he cut an hole in the roof of the whisky shop at the Green Welly and was seen on CCTV using an extending litter picker to reach through the hole and pluck high-price whisky bottles off a top shelf, before escaping with the loot in a bag.
Staff who opened up on the morning after the middle-of-the-night raid on August 12 2020 spotted debris on the floor, the hole in the ceiling and seven bottles of whisky worth a total of £25,583 gone.
Roughley later sold one of the bottles to a dealer in Glasgow for £700.
The court heard on August 13 the previous year, Roughley had used a ladder to get onto the roof of the Scottish Antiques and Arts Centre on the A84 just north of Doune at 1am.
He forced open Perspex roofing and climbed using another ladder.
CCTV showed him using a crowbar to smash display cabinets before taking £20,027 worth of watches and jewellery, including a £250 Rolex watch, which was later recovered by police from an address in Glasgow.
He returned to the centre at 4.36 am on August 31 2020, getting in by drilling the rear door locks while police, alerted by an alarm from the premises, rushed to the scene.
By the time officers arrived, Roughley had fled with £56,126 worth of rings, watches and jewellery.
Prosecutor Sarah Smith said CCTV showed him “running within the premises, using an axe to smash the display cabinets”.
Stolen items found after arrest
Roughley was arrested two months later on Tyneside after Nothumbria Police received a tip-off that he was living at an address in Wallsend.
When officers arrived he tried to make off but was seized in the street and arrested.
A search of the property revealed two more bottles of the stolen whisky, some jewellery and a number of watches.
Roughley appeared by video link from Perth Prison, where he has been since being jailed last year for robbing and gagging a 76-year-old widow at her home in Crossford.
He pled guilty to the break-in and thefts, and also admitted stealing a £23,000 Range Rover Evoque from an address in Lanarkshire.
The car’s owner used a tracker to trace the car to Glasgow’s Bridgeton, and CCTV showed Roughley using it to visit a shopping centre.
Further jail time
Solicitor Charles Jackson, defending, said Roughley had served in the Army for 10 years, reaching the rank of corporal-instructor but had been unable to adjust to civilian life.
He said at the time of the offences he was “living completely beneath the radar” having absconded from HMP Thorn Cross.
It was previously revealed he had spent time running a business in Glasgow during this period.
The court heard that as a result of the six-year sentence imposed at the High Court in May 2021 for robbing the terrified Fife pensioner in Fife, Roughley’s earliest date of release is May 2027.
On Tuesday, Sheriff Keith O’Mahony jailed Roughley for a further 25 months, to be served consecutive to the High Court sentence.
He said the crimes Roughley had admitted were “high value, premeditated, and planned”.
Roughley showed no emotion as sentence was passed.
