A serial car criminal who admitted stealing a £26,000 Mercedes has avoided being locked up after a sheriff decided to hand him a “lenient” sentence.
Craig Strachan sneaked into two houses in Aberdeen’s Annfield Terrace looking for the keys to vehicles.
He then took the keys to a silver Mercedes M Class, which were hanging on the back of an unlocked door, before driving it off in the early hours of the morning.
Yesterday, the repeat offender, who was detained in 2013 for selling on stolen cars worth £50,000, appeared in the dock at Aberdeen Sheriff Court to face sentence on four new charges.
Fiscal depute Karen Dow said that the car’s owner had been in bed when Strachan entered her home to take the keys on April 12.
The court heard that she had left the door unlocked as she was waiting for her daughter to come home.
Ms Dow said at around 4am the homeowner went to check to see if the door had been locked and found that her car was missing from her driveway.
The police were called and later that morning Strachan was found in another house in the street looking for something else to steal.
The court heard the 19-year-old had previously admitted stealing the car and driving it away without a licence and insurance.
He also admitted being at an address without permission with the intention of committing theft there.
Two years ago Strachan was sentenced to 19 months in detention for dealing in a range of stolen vehicles taken from the Mastrick area of the city.
These included motorbikes, a Porsche and a BMW 730.
At the time the court heard that until Strachan turned 15 he had been an “exemplary child” who did well at school and was a piper.
His agent, Anthony Burgess, said Strachan then fell in with a “bad crowd”.
After being released early from detention in 2012, his family hoped he would get his life back on track. But Strachan became involved in car crime again.
Yesterday, Sheriff William Taylor said he was going to deal with Strachan, of 7 Broomhill Avenue, in a “lenient” way as a background report, carried out by social workers, said that he had been complying well.
As a result Strachan was placed under supervision for a year and ordered to carry out 100 hours of unpaid work.
He was also disqualified from driving for six months.