A career thief once dubbed “the worst relative in Scotland” proclaimed himself “the luckiest man in Perth” after dodging what would have been a 23rd prison sentence.
Tom Devers walked free from the city’s sheriff court despite accepting plotting to rob his neighbours’ homes in Crieff.
As he left the court he said he was “off to buy a lottery ticket”, so delighted and surprised was he to have retained his liberty.
Devers has previously staged a robbery at his own family home and stole his mother’s jewellery, which he then pawned to pay for drugs.
In 2015, he was jailed for 24 months after chasing his brother and holding a knife to his throat after a minor argument.
The latest offences saw Devers spotted in the garden of one property in Crieff’s Monteath Street – a short distance from his home in Corlundy Crescent – on the evening of October 7 last year.
He was also disturbed by the terrified owner of a second property after sneaking into her home. In each case he accepted it might reasonably be inferred he intended to commit theft. Devers stole a bicycle from a third house.
When apprehended by police officers he claimed he had little or no recollection of what had happened.
The court has heard such claims before. Following the attack on his brother he told police officers he could not remember what took place as he was heavily under the influence of valium.
Sheriff Gillian Wade told him: “These are crimes, albeit you can’t remember what took place, that are serious and must have been distressing, particularly to the women who found you in her home.
“They are offences for which you could easily and justifiably be returned to prison.
“However, that is a place you have been repeatedly and it has done you no good whatsoever.”
Sheriff Wade placed him on a community payback order requiring him to carry out 135 hours of unpaid work and seek drug treatment.
He will also be under the supervision of social workers for the next 12 months.
Devers – who held up the court after arriving late because of bus issues – said: “I’m going to buy a lottery ticket. I must be the luckiest man in Perth today.”
He has 42 previous convictions, for 62 offences, including breach of the peace, theft, domestic assault, drug possession, housebreaking, shoplifting and assault.
