A bumbling thief was caught red-handed after breaking into a Spar store just yards from an Aberdeen police station.
An officer sitting in Mastrick police station heard the alarm going off at the nearby shop on Greenfern Road and went to investigate.
After making the seconds-long journey to the store, officers saw Stephen Leader, 27, brazenly wandering around inside.
Leader, who the court heard has a “penchant” for breaking into Aldi stores, also raided the Cornhill branch of that chain on the hunt for alcohol.
‘Mr Leader has a penchant for breaking into Aldi’
Fiscal depute Georgia Laird told Aberdeen Sheriff Court officers were within the Mastrick police station at 3.40am on May 25 when one of them heard the alarm going off at the nearby Spar.
She said: “Constables attended and observed the accused within. The police observed the accused behind the till and making his way through aisles.”
Damage to the front of the shop was also noted.
‘The security, I’d imagine, has been greatly increased’
Leader stole a total of just over £200 worth of alcohol. The drink was recovered, but £42 worth was damaged and unsuitable for resale.
The thief was swiftly apprehended and arrested, but while being taken to be searched at Kittybrewster police station, Leader used the handcuffs as a weapon to strike an officer on the head.
Fortunately, the officer was uninjured.
In separate matters, Leader stole £12 of washing powder from Esso on Great Northern Road on May 10.
And he also broke into the Aldi store at Cornhill Shopping Arcade shortly after 3am on May 20.
Police were notified by the alarm company, but by the time they got there Leader, along with £240 of alcohol, had vanished.
‘Gone off the rails’
Leader, of Waulkmill Crescent, Aberdeen, pled guilty to two charges of theft by housebreaking, one of shoplifting, one of assaulting a police officer and one of breaching bail.
Defence agent Mike Monro said: “Mr Leader has a penchant for breaking into Aldi in Cornhill.
“He was identified and police went round to his address and found him in the property with Aldi bags and some of the stolen goods.
“While the security at Aldi was not good, he still had to overcome the security to get in.
“The security, I’d imagine, has been greatly increased.”
Mr Monro said Leader then went on to break into the Spar store to feed his alcohol habit and was “overpowered by the police”.
The solicitor said his client was an “able member of society” when not drinking, but had “gone off the rails”.
Sheriff Margaret Hodge jailed Leader for 48 days.
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