A charity worker who cooks meals for the homeless will have his Christmas dinner behind bars after being jailed for six months.
Inverness Sheriff Court heard that 35-year-old chef Michael MacBeath had a drink problem and fell off the wagon earlier this year following a spell in rehab.
The court was told he discharged himself from a residential place and committed several thefts, totalling almost £900, from Inverness stores.
Most of it was alcohol taken from Marks and Spencer, Asda, the Co-op in Telford Street and the Eastgate Shopping Centre.
The crimes were committed between September and November this year.
‘When sober he is a perfectly pleasant young man’
MacBeath is a new father after his fiancee gave birth while he was on remand awaiting sentence on the offences, the court was told.
He had also pleaded guilty to an assault, after he slapped a motorist on the head in Rose Street on November 15 this year. He was remanded the following day.
His sentence was backdated to that date by Sheriff Sara Matheson, who told MacBeath of Culduthel Mains Circle, Inverness, he only gets so many chances at community payback orders.
MacBeath’s solicitor advocate Clare Russell had said her client had successfully completed a CPO and had 77 hours of a 200 hours order left to complete.
She told the court: “He is a chef to trade and although unemployed, he does three days a week cooking meals for the homeless at a local church and another day teaching cookery.
“When sober he is a perfectly pleasant young man. But he was struggling to cope with not being able to see his pregnant girlfriend while in rehab and left voluntarily.
“He hasn’t seen his newborn and was hoping he would gain his liberty today.”