A man who was caught on camera sneaking into a locked tradesman’s yard told police the person in the footage “could be his twin brother”.
Security camera video showed Allan Moir climbing on and looking around equipment in the Tony Weir Fencing Contractor yard on the outskirts of Elgin.
The 37-year-old was seen poking around vehicles including a tractor and a lorry, although he didn’t steal anything.
Moir later denied being at the scene when questioned by the police, who had been given CCTV camera evidence by the business owner.
But Moir told the officers it wasn’t him featured in the footage but could be his twin brother from Buckie whose name he didn’t know.
‘He admitted it looked like him but it was not him’
Fiscal depute Sharon Ralph told Elgin Sheriff Court the first incident at the business storage unit in Tower Place, Elgin, happened on August 2 last year at around 5am.
Its owner had previously locked up the yard with multiple vehicles and pieces of equipment inside, including a Nissan Navara, a tractor and a DAF lorry.
But later that day, when he checked security footage, he spotted Moir climbing on the steps of the tractor and trying to pull the bonnet trim on the Nissan before its alarm went off and he left.
Later that month, on August 31, video footage again revealed that Moir appeared on the premises at 1.50am.
“He was seen walking amongst the vehicles on the lot and left the premises by jumping over the locked gate,” Mrs Ralph said. “He left a screwdriver and a blue glove behind.
“Police attended and recognised the accused on the CCTV. On questioning, he admitted it looked like him on the CCTV but it was not him.
“He said it could be his twin brother from Buckie but he didn’t know his name.”
‘His record does him no favours’
Sheriff Gordon Fleetwood questioned how Moir couldn’t know his twin’s name, to which Moir’s defence agent Grant Dalglish replied it was “a poor way of wording it.”
Mr Dalglish told the sheriff: “He meant, ‘It could have been my twin. It looks so like me’.”
Moir told social workers he had been drinking and was just walking home that way.
“He was going to revert to type. He had no money and was going to revert but he didn’t.
“He has since got himself in shape, got himself employment and sorted himself out.
“He is on a curfew, which he has adhered to, but he admits his record does him no favours,” the solicitor added.
Reasonably inferred he would commit theft
Moir admitted two counts of being found in an area whereby it could be reasonably inferred he would commit theft.
Two not-guilty pleas to other theft charges were accepted on the day of the trial.
Sheriff Gordon Fleetwood said the mystery twin brother explanation to police was “about as believable” as the one given in his social work report about wandering home drunk.
He placed Moir, of Sheriffston Cottages, Lhanbryde, under a one-year supervision order and sentenced him to carry out 125 hours of unpaid work.
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