A Dunfermline workman who stole a dead man’s charity bottle containing more than £4,500 and spent it on booze, has been jailed.
Wayne Hardy, 42, was meant to be doing work in the flat above a shop in the city’s Inchkeith Drive but helped himself to the money.
He was sentenced at Dunfermline Sheriff Court in April to 200 hours of unpaid work and a six-month curfew order and told to pay £2,000 compensation.
He returned to the dock this week following a breach of his curfew.
The court also heard he can no longer do the unpaid work – only completing six hours so far – and cannot afford to pay the compensation at the agreed rate of £200 per month.
Opportunistic theft
Procurator fiscal depute Catherine Stevenson told the court Hardy had been employed by the dead man’s son to fit a fuse box and wire two plugs in the property.
Hardy was known to him as a regular in his shop below.
Ms Stevenson said: “The money was kept within the living room under a black bag and would not have been visible unless the accused entered the room to look around.”
Hardy took about six days to complete the work but did not show up to collect his £500 pay and did not answer subsequent calls to his phone.
The dead man’s son noticed the charity bottle was missing a few days later and tried to contact Hardy to get him to return the money.
The fiscal depute continued: “However, he refused to answer the door or phone and this led to the matter being reported to police.”
The stolen money had been earmarked for charity, the court heard.
Community sentence hopes
Hardy, of Macbeth Road, admitted stealing £4,570 at the property between December 10 and 16 2021.
Defence lawyer David McLaughlin said the theft of the cash was opportunistic and his client had “spent it on alcohol”.
The court heard a social worker assessed Hardy as suitable for unpaid work prior to his April sentencing but it has since transpired he was too embarrassed to reveal the extent of his alcohol addiction.
Sheriff Lindsay Foulis pointed out the thief had effectively misled the court.
Mr McLaughlin said his client has a lengthy criminal record which is inextricably linked to his alcohol misuse.
The solicitor said most of his client’s offending was due to drinking and argued there could be benefit to wider society if Hardy were able to attend a six-month rehabilitation programme, which might have the knock-on effect of reducing his criminal activities.
But Sheriff Foulis said if community sentences are going to mean anything, they need imposed based on open and honestly-given information – and then carried out.
The sheriff told Hardy: “On both those matters you have fallen down”.
He revoked Hardy’s community sentence and jailed him for six months.
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