A husband smashed his way into a safe and then sold his wife’s jewellery and designer clothes while she was out of the country, a court has heard.
Ben Belton’s wife locked her valuables away behind a padlocked cupboard but when she returned from a trip to China she discovered her scheming husband had moved out and stolen the lot.
Inverness Sheriff Court was told he sold her clothes, including Versace and Louis Vuitton brands, to a website and traded in her watch to a jeweller for £6,000.
Belton, 42, who admitted a single charge of theft, took the items for their then-home at the Alba Bed and Breakfast on Achintore Road, Fort William.
Fiscal depute Pauline Gair said that the property had an under-stair cupboard with a padlocked bolt, inside of which was a safe, where the complainer kept “high-value jewellery”.
Mrs Gair said: “On 31 September 18 the complainer travelled to China leaving the accused living at the locus.
“Prior to her leaving she locked and secured the cupboard. When she returned on November 27 2018 the accused had moved out of the property and items belonging to her were missing.
Husband smashed safe, stole jewellery
“On opening the cupboard she discovered that the safe had been smashed and items of jewellery were missing. A number of items of high-end clothing was also missing from her bedroom.”
The court heard that the cupboard was bolted and padlocked and the woman had all the keys to the padlock in her possession – she was also the only person who knew the pin number to open the safe.
“The accused unscrewed the screw holding the straight door bolt in place which released the bolt and gave him access to the cupboard,” Mrs Gair said.
The court heard that Belton and a female were confirmed by police to have visited a jeweller, where a watch belonging to his wife was sold for £6,000.
Belton also made contact with an online reseller who purchased designer items from labels such as Versace, Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Burberry and Mulberry for £2,400.
The wife later spotted some of her items on sale on the website and bought them before messaging the seller to explain that they were stolen property, at which point the seller refunded her money.
On February 7 she received a recorded envelope in the post from the accused, which contained a large number of pieces of jewellery which had previously been in the safe.
Sheriff Eilidh MacDonald deferred sentencing on Belton, now of Kings Road, Gosport, to next month for the production of pre-sentencing reports.
Defence solicitor David Patterson reserved his comments in mitigation until that hearing.
