Two New Year revellers desperate for gin used a road sign to smash their way into Co-op in a bid to quench their thirst for booze.
After finding the Inverurie store closed, Amanda Neilly and Chelsie Spencer “spontaneously” decided to grab a nearby temporary traffic sign, and together used it to smash a glass panel in the door.
Neilly, 41, then clambered through the hole and grabbed five bottles of gin from behind the till area, while Spencer, 23 waited outside on North Street.
But onlookers, who had witnessed the whole episode and shouted to try to stop the women, contacted police and officers raced to the scene and caught the duo red-handed.
Fiscal depute Tom Procter told Aberdeen Sheriff Court: “At 8.43pm on January 1 2021 the accused were seen to arrive at the locus front door together and were heard to discuss that they wanted gin.”
The shop was closed but remained lit.
Mr Procter went on: “Upon getting no response from knocking, they were seen to kick and pull at the door in an attempt to gain entry.”
Pair were ‘quite determined’ in gin hunt
The duo were unsuccessful, but did cause damage to the door.
Mr Procter said: “The accused were then observed to walk into the road and collect a temporary traffic sign which they took back to the locus.
“Both accused proceeded to hold either side of the sign and swing it against several areas of the door and glass frontage of the locus.
“After repeated impacts, the glass panel broke. The accused thereafter kicked at the hole to make it larger.”
At this point, a passer-by shouted at the women, and they “briefly walked away before returning”.
The fiscal depute continued: “Neilly entered through the hole in the glass panel, went behind the tills and retrieved five bottles of various gins.
‘Blatant disregard for the fact they were being watched’
“Spencer remained outside.”
Police then arrived and found Neilly still inside the shop. They were both arrested.
Neilly, of Brands Butt, Inverurie, and Spencer, of Cluny, Inverurie, both pled guilty to a charge of theft by housebreaking.
Defence agent Kevin Longino, representing Neilly, highlighted the date of the incident, adding: “This is an offence committed essentially spontaneously when Ms Neilly was very intoxicated and trying to gain further intoxicants at the time.”
Mr Longino said the pair’s “blatant disregard for the fact they were being watched” emphasised their level of intoxication.
He added his client had a “history of substance misuse problems”, but was now engaging with assistance in relation to that.
Sheriff Donald Ferguson told the women: “You were quite determined to get more alcohol that night, that’s for sure, breaking into the Co-op with people watching.”
He deferred sentence for the pair to be of good behaviour, for reports, and for the Crown to obtain information about the value of the damage caused to the shop.
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