A thief has been jailed after stealing power tools worth more than £1,000 from an Aberdeenshire farm.
Chad Hodgkins, 28, along with an accomplice who remains unidentified, forced entry into a shed at Blackiemuir Farm, Laurencekirk, on November 21 last year.
The pair grabbed the expensive power tools from inside and fled with their haul.
And the duo also attempted a similar enterprise at Riverside Quarter, Mugiemoss Road, in Aberdeen, but left empty-handed.
Fiscal depute Elizabeth McAllister told Aberdeen Sheriff Court a worker at the farm had secured and locked the shed at 4.30pm on November 19, but when he returned on November 22 found the door open and lights on.
It was then noticed that a variety of power tools, valued at £1,400 in total, were missing.
CCTV was reviewed and showed Hodgkins and the second male arriving at 8.05pm on November 21 and using a tool to “open the door with force”.
‘You have a bad record of previous convictions’
They were then seen removing the power tools from inside and leaving.
The tools were never recovered.
In a separate incident on December 5 2021, Hodgkins, again with an unidentified male, was seen tampering with a container at Riverside Quarter, Mugiemoss Road.
Ms McAllister told the court police were contacted regarding “persons on the site that shouldn’t be there”.
When they arrived, it was noted the door to one of the storage containers was open, and the padlock had been broken off.
CCTV showed the pair trying to enter the container and open the padlock before leaving empty-handed.
Hodgkins, of Manor Avenue, Aberdeen, pled guilty to theft by opening a locked place, opening a locked place with intent to steal, and two breaches of a bail curfew.
Defence agent Graeme Murray said his client had accepted responsibility for the offences.
‘A custodial sentence is the only possible outcome’
Referring to a court-ordered social work report, Sheriff Graham Buchanan said: “It was done for financial gain. He had gone out with that specific purpose with the other person.”
Addressing Hodgkins directly, the sheriff said: “You have a bad record of previous convictions, primarily in England, and you have one fairly lengthy prison sentence imposed in the crown court in 2015.
“These are serious matters, and a substantial quantity of power tools was stolen and none of them were recovered.
“In the whole circumstances, a custodial sentence is the only possible outcome.”
He jailed Hodgkins for nine months.
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