A man has been handed unpaid work after admitting a spree of thefts from sheds, garages and farmland across Aberdeenshire.
The thefts, totalling £17,030, were carried in August 2021 by the man when he was just 17-years-old.
William Burke, now 20, pled guilty to five charges of theft last month and appeared at Aberdeen Sheriff Court for sentencing.
Burke’s spate of crime covered properties across Aberdeenshire, including a trailer, power tools and a motorbike.
First theft
Beginning at Fettercairn on August 5, a shipping container was ransacked and £3,600 of power tools were stolen.
Fiscal depute Lucy Simpson told the court: “One of the stolen items, a hedge trimmer, with a value of £500, was recovered at a property that the accused was known to frequent and where he was seen on CCTV to be present shortly after the theft.”
Analysis of Burke’s mobile phone also placed him at the scene around the same time of the theft.
Power tools stolen
Ms Simpson said later the same day at another address in Fettercairn, a storage container, was raided and a motorbike and a nail gun, both worth £2,850, were taken.
Burke’s phone had evidence of messages about a stolen motorcycle and cell site analysis also placed him at the address.
Several days later, on August 16, a garage in Banchory was broken into and a large quantity of power tools were found to be missing – totalling £5,000.
Analysis of Burke’s phone also placed him at that address, the court heard.
Farm machinery taken
The following day, in Alford, a man discovered his shed had been opened “with no obvious signs of damage”, Ms Simpson said.
“He found a large quantity of power tools, a toolbox and a generator were missing from the shed. The total value of stolen property was £2,580,” Ms Simpson said.
Phone analysis also placed Burke at the location.
Moving to Colpy a couple of days later, Gordon Smith had filled a trailer up with various items of farm machinery, which he left unhitched just off the A96.
The court heard a passer-by had seen a transit van with the wording ‘Michael Pryde’ on the side reversing into the field where the trailer was.
Witness to trailer theft
“He observed two males at the back of the van by the trailer,” Ms Simpson said.
“Forty minutes later Mr Smith returned to find his trailer to be gone.
“He made search of the area and found the farm machinery which had been within the trailer abandoned 500 metres away but did not locate the trailer. The trailer is worth approximately £3,000 and was not recovered.”
Ms Simpson told the court that the same morning, Burked was captured on CCTV leaving the Tealing traveller site, near Dundee, sitting in the passenger side of a large transit van with ‘Michael Pryde’ written on the side, and returning later that day after the trailer had been stolen.
Again, mobile phone signals placed Burke at the crime scene.
Dropped charges
Charges of breaking into Tormore Distillery at Grantown-on-Spey, a farm in Huntly and breaking into a shed in Aboyne were dropped by the Crown.
Two co-accused – Graham Burke, Burke’s father, and his cousin William McPhee – had not guilty pleas accepted.
Defence agent Laurence Flynn said his client was a first offender and was living in the travelling community at the time.
“He is now married and has moved to his own address with his wife. He accepts his involvement and has fully co-operated with preparing the background reports.”
Sheriff Gareth Jones said there had been a high value of goods stolen, adding: “You were 17 at the time and are still a young man. You have not offended since.
“Taking into account your age and lack of offending and you are a married man, I am not going to send you to prison.”
Burke was ordered to carry out 220 hours of unpaid work and was placed on an electronic tag for six months, unable to leave his house, on Knowehead Crescent, Kirriemuir, between the hours of 7pm to 7am, seven days a week.
