A warrant has been issued for the arrest of a shamanic yacht thief over his alleged failure to complete a court punishment for stealing the £15,000 pleasure craft from an Angus harbour.
Richard Gould was not present at Forfar Sheriff Court this week when he was due to answer an allegation that he had breached a community payback order imposed in August.
The Afghanistan veteran had been ordered to complete 100 hours of unpaid work after changing his plea half way through a trial over the theft from Arbroath harbour which sparked a nautical chase along the Angus coast.
The 42-year-old and his partner, Vivienne Duke, boarded the Osprey at its pontoon berth in the town marina and sailed up the Angus coast to Montrose after cleaning the vessel and carrying out some small maintenance jobs on it.
Police and the RNLI were involved in a slow-speed pursuit before specialist marine officers boarded the craft near Lunan Bay.
Both Gould and Duke originally denied a charge of stealing the Osprey, but midway through the trial he changed his plea to guilty and the co-accused’s not guilty plea was accepted.
The court heard the pair had been travelling by foot for two years and effectively living under the stars, following a shamanic existence, an ancient spiritual practice of transcendental energy.
Gould, of Newton Avenue, Arbroath had previously served with the military in Afghanistan, Bosnia and Iraq.
There was no explanation for Gould’s failure to appear this week and it is understood police have been unable to serve his court citation on him, leading to Sheriff Gregor Murray granting an arrest warrant.
