A Fraserburgh shoplifter has been given some stark relationship advice after a sheriff was told she was committing crime to support her partner.
Rebecca Whyte, 36, appeared at Peterhead Sheriff Court facing seven charges of stealing items from supermarkets in her hometown.
In incidents stretching from September last year to last Saturday, Whyte stole electrical items and food from Asda on Watermill Road and the Co-op on Albert Street.
Her defence solicitor, Sam Milligan, told the court Whyte, who appeared from custody, had been making some progress in her personal life but had fallen into a bad relationship in which she was helping to fund her boyfriend’s drug habit.
He said: “She seemed to be making a modicum of progress – but there is a blot on the landscape.
“And that blot is a relationship she has been advised to extricate herself from.
“Certainly, her appearance today has focused her attention.”
‘Look after yourself’
Sheriff Craig Findlater deferred sentence for a social work report.
During the case, he had told Mr Milligan that Whyte’s record did not “make great reading”.
She will be bailed to a parent’s address in Fraserburgh for the report to be completed.
“There’s obviously a difficulty, probably a number of difficulties, but one major difficulty in your life,” Sheriff Findlater told Whyte.
“And that’s why I’m bailing you to that address.”
He added: “Take care of yourself. I am not closing the doors on any other options.”
Whyte is slated to return to Peterhead Sheriff Court next month.