Two organised criminals have narrowly avoided jail after they carried out a night time heist on a fish van in Aberdeenshire.
Nicholas Gaszka and Karl Scorfield travelled from Newcastle to raid the vehicle which was parked outside The Burnett Arms in Kemnay.
But when the pair broke into the van, vigilant residents living nearby called the police and noted the registration plate of their getaway car.
The men were later tracked down by officers and caught red-handed with a bag containing more than £2,000 in cash and a cheque worth hundreds of pounds.
Yesterday Gaszka, 32, and Scorfield, 31, appeared at Aberdeen Sheriff Court for sentence having previously admitted carrying out the raid on September 18 last year.
The court heard Gaszka, of 47 Ferndale Avenue, Wallsend, Newcastle, had been working for Ruskim Seafoods Ltd at the time and had been approached by a man who drove a van selling their fish around the country.
Gaszka’s solicitor Bob Anderson said this man had informed him of the route he would be taking around the north and north-east and said he would be leaving the cash in the van overnight.
He said the man suggested they targeted the vehicle when it stopped in Kemnay.
The court heard the money bag should have been kept in a safe.
Gaszka then told his friend Scorfield, of 122 Richardson Street, Wallsend, Newcastle, about the plan to break into the van as he knew he was struggling financially.
They then arranged for another man to drive the getaway car.
When the pair first appeared in court Sheriff Graeme Napier said it was unlucky for them that the community was so vigilant.
He said: “You obviously did not expect the people of Kemnay to be so interested in their community.
“It is as a result of their vigilance you were caught scoring ill-gotten gains.”
The court heard that since the incident they had both turned their lives around.
Gaszka and his partner are currently undergoing IVF treatment and Scorfield has managed to secure a permanent job.
Yesterday Sheriff Napier said that although the pair were involved in “a very serious offence” he said he was satisfied he could deal with them without having to send them to jail.
As a direct alternative to a prison sentence the pair were ordered to carry out 240 hours of unpaid work in the community within the next nine months. They were also placed under supervision for a year.
The court heard an investigation is on going into the involvement of the van driver.