A thug is back behind bars after he admitted smashing his way into a chip shop and scarpering with the till.
Paul Coombs was spotted in the early hours of February 21 last year heading out of Marini’s on Strathmartine Road clutching the cash register.
It is the second time the 27-year-old has struck at the same takeaway.
Earlier this year, Coombs admitted breaking into the outlet in December 2020 and stealing the tills, as well as trying his luck at the nearby Frankie’s Fish Shack.
Coombs, who also pled guilty to a terrifying domestic assault on his partner, was jailed for 22 months.
Chip shop raid
Fiscal depute Lynn Mannion told Dundee Sheriff Court: “At 5.35am on February 21 2022, a witness was walking along towards the locus.
“As he neared the shop, he saw the glass in the front door was smashed.”
The witness saw Coombs stepping out of the shop with a till, before making off with another man who was waiting outside.
The witness phoned the police and Coombs was identified from a review of CCTV.
HMP Perth inmate Coombs admitted breaking in and stealing the till and its contents.
While still in the dock, he also pled guilty to two domestically aggravated offences from December 12.
The court heard how he arrived uninvited at his partner’s home in Salton Crescent and immediately flew into a rage.
He snatched his girlfriend’s phone from her hand and threw it at a radiator.
He then seized her head, kicked her stomach twice and struck her face.
Coombs then pulled her from her bed by the hair and dragged her into the hall.
In doing so, he elbowed a TV, smashing it.
The woman escaped the house and fled into the street but Coombs followed her.
Ring doorbell footage outside captured the woman shouting that she was pregnant.
Coombs pled guilty to the assault and a charged of behaving in a threatening or abusive manner.
‘Custodial sentence, custodial sentence, custodial sentence…’
Solicitor Doug McConnell said: “Mr Coombs didn’t know she was pregnant.
“Whether she was pregnant or not, I can’t say.
“He has got numerous matters prior to this, although most are in relation to housebreakings.
“Prior to this matter, he was dealt with by custodial sentence, custodial sentence, custodial sentence…
“The last time that a non-custodial sentence was attempted was 2016.”
Mr McConnell added: “I appreciate that Mr Coombs is now 27 but the last time that reports were prepared with a view as to whether we can break the cycle of offending was some seven years ago.”
He said his client has been drug-free on remand and has a job lined up with a family business once he is liberated.
Sheriff Alastair Carmichael imposed a 22 month sentence, with 10 months for the break-in and 12 months for the assault.
Marini’s menace
At Forfar Sheriff Court in April, Coombs admitted stealing two tills with hundreds of pounds in them from Marini’s and caused around £1,000 of damage.
That raid took place at 4.40am on December 14 in 2020.
During the same crime spree, he targeted Frankie’s Fish Shack on Harefield Road but failed to crowbar his way inside.
He also broke into Bloom florists in Dundee and Car Requirements at Montrose Road, Forfar.
Dad-of-one Coombs, of North George Street in Dundee, had already spent 315 days on remand when he pled guilty.
He was sentenced to 200 days in jail, plus 53 days of an unexpired sentence.
In 2017, Coombs was caged for a year and nine months after a mistaken identity assault which fractured a man’s skull.
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