A notorious gang of teenage car thieves who have plagued the north-east for years have run-up more than £125,000 in legal aid bills.
More than a dozen young men have spent most of their adult lives flitting in and out of detention as a result of trying to satisfy their “addiction” to fast cars.
The members of the gang who carry out the raids are well known to the police – and are arrested time and time again.
But curfews, driving bans and numerous bail orders have all failed to stop them from getting behind the wheels of stolen motors.
Yesterday, the Scottish Legal Aid Board released figures to the Press and Journal detailing how much taxpayers’ money has been spent ensuring the “hard core” of offenders are represented in court.
Their combined legal aid bills comes to £125,627.94, although not all of the cash will have been spent representing them for car-related offences.
Last night, north-east Labour MSP Lewis MacDonald said the lawyers’ fees were just the “tip of the iceberg” in terms of the gang’s cost to the public purse.
And he said that action was needed to stop them becoming a further drain on the taxpayer.
He said: “What I would say is this cost is clearly money which is coming from everybody else to pay the fees of repeat offenders and it is only part of the drain on public spending.
“The courts, police, prison service and community sentencing departments are all spending taxpayers’ money as a consequence of bad behaviour of a small number of people committing these thefts.
“What I’m trying to say really, is this is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of the cost of crime. Let’s not forget the cost to the victims directly, not just to all of us.
“What we need to do is ensure we are addressing this behaviour and try to get to the root cause of why they are offending and continue to re-offend.”
Aberdeen Sheriff Court has frequently heard that a number of the youths have had particularly difficult upbringings, spending much of their teenage years in children’s homes.
Several have lost their parents at a young age and claim to have turned to joyriding to help them cope.
In October Michael Beaton’s solicitor, Tony Burgess, told the court his client had turned to car crime, stealing vehicles worth thousands of pounds, after his mother died.
Topping the legal aid chart, with £36,880.06 having been spent representing him so far, is Liam Smith.
The 19-year-old is a notorious repeat offender and one of three youths who made off with supercars worth £500,000 from oil tycoon Sean Dreelan’s mansion.
Jason Grant, who was locked up for 30 months in April for stealing a £100,000 Lamborghini and a £70,000 BMW, had the second highest bill at £14,535.94.
Last night, a spokesman for the Scottish Legal Aid Board said legal aid was granted on a “case-by-case” basis according to legislation passed by the Scottish Parliament.
He said: “This ensures applications are considered on their own merits.”
Wayne and Michelle Yule were targeted in October by thieves who staked-out their rural Aberdeenshire home before making off with their family’s red Honda quad bike, Kawasaki CX-125 and a children’s DR 50cc in the middle of the night.
The bikes have yet to be recovered and Mrs Yule and her husband are left out of pocket as the items were not individually insured.
Mrs Yule, 32, said she felt angry that the same youths were being caught over and over again, and that they spared no thought for their victims.
She said: “They feel that they have the right to help themselves to other people’s possessions. We have worked hard for these things to provide our family with a hobby.
“Our bikes were taken from our garden shed which was padlocked three times. They cut all three locks. It just makes you think ‘what is the point?’.
Mrs Yule said she accepted the fact that everyone was entitled to legal representation.
However, she said the youths were also causing expense to north-east residents as their crime spree was causing insurance premiums to rise in the area.