A valium-fuelled lout smashed his way into a high street baby shop in full view of CCTV cameras – a crime his own lawyer dubbed “not the work of a master criminal”.
John McCormick threw a brick through a front window of Daisy’s Baby Boutique on Peterhead’s Queen Street in the early hours of the morning and stole £500 worth of infants’ clothes from within.
The 30-year-old also swiped just £15 from the till but caused £1,000 of damage during the amateurish break-in, which was captured on several CCTV cameras in the town centre.
Fiscal depute Lynne MacVicar told Aberdeen Sheriff Court a member of the public called the police at 7am on April 16 after spotted damage to a small front window at the shop.
McCormick caught on CCTV lobbing brick
She said: “Police attended and saw a brick inside the smashed window surrounded by shards of glass.
“The front door frame was also damaged.
“A number of shop window displays were disturbed.
“Baby clothes and accessories valued at £507.90 were missing, and £15 in cash from the till was also missing.”
The court heard CCTV showed McCormick throwing the brick through the window and entering the shop at 2.44am.
He was also seen leaving carrying a “large, white package”.
Police arrested him at his home at 9.30am.
Ms MacVicar said the clothing and cash were not recovered and the window and door cost £500 each to replace.
McCormick, a prisoner of HMP Grampian, pled guilty to a charge of theft by housebreaking.
Prison the ‘most likely outcome’
Defence agent Leonard Burkinshaw said police had come across his client in an “intoxicated state through drugs” earlier in the morning prior to his arrest.
He added McCormick used “mainly valium” and had “no recollections of events”, although he accepted his involvement.
Mr Burkinshaw said the offence was committed on the main street in Peterhead, in an area fully covered by CCTV cameras, adding: “It was not the work of a master criminal.”
Sheriff Morag McLaughlin described McCormick’s offending as an “entrenched pattern of behaviour” and warned him a prison sentence would be the “most likely outcome”.
However, she deferred sentence for reports.