A man robbed a woman at a Merkinch cashpoint but left his DNA behind in her pocket as he grabbed the cash.
Dean Barclay’s victim had just withdrawn £500 from her son’s account, when Barclay pounced and took the notes saying: “Give me the money, it’s my money, I need it.”
But when he forced his hand into her pocket to take the money, he left behind telltale forensic evidence.
Barclay, 37, appeared at Inverness Sheriff Court for sentencing having previously admitted a single charge of assault and robbery in relation to the incident on March 11 of this year.
At a previous hearing, the court had heard how the woman had been using the cashpoint to withdraw money from he son’s account to send to him abroad.
After making the withdrawal she placed the cash and card in her jacket pocket, but as she did so noticed a man approaching her from the opposite side of the road,
‘Give me the money’
He said: “Give me the money, it’s my money, I need it.”
The woman told Barclay to “get away from her” but he stuck his hand in her pocket, grabbed her wrist and pulled her hand out, before squeezing tightly to make her let go.
When she did so he took the money.
Witnesses heard the woman shouting in distress and screaming “that’s not your money, that’s my son’s money” as she struggled with the accused.
They then saw Barclay grab something from her before running off down the lane towards Telford Road.
The incident was captured on CCTV.
Barclay was arrested on March 13, and forensic examination found his DNA inside the woman’s jacket pocket.
The money was never recovered.
‘Frightening’ and ‘distressing’
Solicitor Clare Russell, for Barclay, told the court that her client’s offending was “directly linked to his quite significant heroin addiction”.
She said Barclay had a diagnosis of PTSD from childhood trauma and told Sheriff Eilidh MacDonald: “This incident is directly related to his substance misuse difficulties.”
Sheriff MacDonald told Barclay: This is an appalling offence – you carried out an assault and robbery on a lady who was just going about her day.”
The sheriff acknowledged that the crime would have been “frightening” and “distressing” for the victim.
She noted Barclay had been previously jailed for a similar crime and sentenced him to two years imprisonment, backdated to March 14 of this year.
She told him: “It is a matter for you now to get clean and get straight and stop behaving in this way.”