Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Serial housebreaker threatened to spit at police and claimed he had hepatitis

Charles Skinner.
Charles Skinner.

A serial housebreaker who threatened to spit on police and claimed he had hepatitis has been sent back to prison to serve the remaining portion of a previous sentence.

Charles Skinner, 43, was found in the home of one man who saw him shining a flashlight downstairs and another witness spotted him on his CCTV camera trying to gain entry to his home.

Upon being arrested by police, Skinner was taken to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary (ARI) where he kicked a police officer before threatening to spit on him while claiming he had hepatitis.

His solicitor told Aberdeen Sheriff Court that Skinner, who has numerous previous convictions for housebreaking, had fallen back into drug addiction due to the stress of having to give evidence in a murder trial.

Among the things Skinner stole were a wallet, headphones and a face mask.

He pleaded guilty to four charges, including theft, assault and two of behaving in a threatening or abusive manner.

Homeowner saw light shining downstairs

Fiscal depute Lucy Simpson told the court that at around 11.45pm on January 10 this year, one homeowner in Cornhill Gardens, Aberdeen, heard a noise downstairs and went to the landing to check what it was.

She said: “The witness saw a light moving around downstairs. He shouted from the top of the stairs and the light stopped moving and there was a small pause.

“He then heard the sound of his back door closing.”

The following evening Skinner was spotted by another homeowner on their CCTV system on Westburn Drive attempting to enter their home from the garden.

He put on the alarm that was connected to the CCTV and Skinner fled from the scene.

However, thanks to the description provided to police by the homeowner, officers found Skinner 20 minutes later and arrested him.

Officers then took Skinner to ARI due to concerns for his health.

While there he kicked a police officer and threatened to spit on him, claiming he had hepatitis.

Accused ‘under no illusions’ about serving prison time

Defence agent Tony Burgess told the court that Skinner had fallen back into drug addiction due to the stress of having to resubmit evidence in a murder trial.

He said: “Looking at his record, you could be forgiven for thinking he is just returning to form.

“But the circumstances that drove him back into drug use are somewhat unusual.

“He gave evidence for the whole day at the original trial and, for reasons that I’m not sure of, the trial was deserted and he had to go back to give evidence again.

“It was that that pushed him over the edge and he was back into drug use.”

Mr Burgess added that Skinner was “under no illusions” that he faced a prison sentence for his offences.

Sheriff Andrew Miller described Skinner’s record for housebreaking as “extensive” and with many offences related to crimes of dishonesty.

He ordered that Skinner, whose address was given as HMP Grampian, go back to prison to serve 13 months of an unexpired portion of a previous sentence.

Sheriff Miller admonished Skinner of the remaining charges due to him serving eight months on remand.

For all the latest court cases in Aberdeen and the latest crime and breaking incidents, join our new Facebook group.