A thug who terrorised an elderly couple in their own Broughty Ferry home has been sentenced to more than six years in prison.
Brian Hill, 38, forced his way into the house with another raider Ross Gillan where a sword was brandished and they ordered the couple, both in their 70s, into the bathroom before making off with a “substantial” haul of jewellery, cash, watches, wallets and car keys.
Hill appeared from custody before Lord Turnbull at Edinburgh High Court after pleading guilty at an earlier hearing to abduction, assault, robbery and theft of a car.
And Gillan confessed at an earlier hearing and was sentenced to four years with two years extended.
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Prosecutor Alex Prentice told the court how very little was recovered from the robbery which happened on November 14, last year at Strathyre Avenue.
The two raiders, described as prisoners from Perth, had their faces partially covered when they burst into the home of Philip and Frances Youngs.
Mr Young, 72, was shoved about the body to his injury while both he and wife Frances, 71, were threatened with violence and forced into their bathroom before it was locked.
Lord Turnbull launched a scathing verbal attack on Hill and his previous record of offending.
He said: “This was a targeted and planned robbery in which you sought to take advantage of two elderly citizens who you knew to be vulnerable.
“You have a history of offending including house breaking and you have learned nothing from the years associated with courts.
“Although this crime, its magnitude and circumstances are nothing you have been in involved in before…this was aggravated with it taking place in the home of the victims when clearly present and in a callous and violent manner.”
Lord Turnbull added: “Very little has been recovered and many of these items were given by Mr Youngs to his wife through their long lives together and are beyond financial loss.
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“You also robbed Mr and Mrs Youngs of their attachment to these items and the memories associated to them, some stretching back many years.
“I will take into account you pled guilty, although only recently, so there will be a small discount on sentencing to the two charges.
“It would have been a sentence of seven years in prison, but I will restrict it to six years and four months in light of the plea and sentence will be back dated to November 20 last year.”
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