An Aberdeen man broke into his neighbour’s flat and helped himself to £11,000 of his belongings – including his late mother’s ashes.
Lee Munro essentially moved into his neighbour’s empty home, sleeping in his bed and leaving the property “ransacked” and strewn with empty Pot Noodles.
Munro also stole pricey belongings, including a drum kit, army medals, electronics, a snowboard, motorbike helmets, artwork, clothing and – most upsettingly – a box containing the ashes of the flat owner’s mother.
But Aberdeen Sheriff Court was told the 23-year-old thief made a “poor choice” of flat to target – as he realised when his victim’s biker friends turned up to take back the stolen goods.
Fiscal depute Alan Townsend said the incident happened in March last year in a block of flats on Lewis Road.
Home had been ransacked
On March 12, officers attended at Munro’s flat to speak to him about an unrelated matter.
They observed a drum kit inside but had no reason to believe it was stolen at that time.
On March 21, officers again needed to speak to Munro and found him in his neighbour’s flat and in possession of the key.
He told the police the flat was “abandoned” and officers secured it with a padlock and made efforts to trace the occupant.
During the afternoon of March 26, the flat owner’s partner attended to collect some of his belongings.
She noticed the door had been “forced open” and a padlock that had been added had been “broken off”.
Mr Townsend told the court: “The witness entered the locus and observed that it had been ransacked, with various items missing.
“She also observed clothing and Pot Noodles that were foreign to the locus.”
The woman knocked on Munro’s door to ask if he had seen or heard anything and, when he answered, spotted artwork belonging to her partner on his wall.
She removed the art and took it back into her boyfriend’s flat before phoning both him and the police.
Mr Townsend said: “She sought assistance from a number of friends and together they returned to the accused’s address and collected a large quantity of items belonging to her partner.
These included:
- A snowboard worth £400
- Various items of clothing worth a total of £640
- Various pairs of limited edition trainers worth a total of £1,000
- Three watches with a combined value of £800
- A coin and note collection worth £1,200
- A TV worth £1,200
- An Xbox worth £355
- Two motorcycle helmets with a combined value of £800
- Army medals
- A drum kit
The artwork, a laptop and two mobile phones were also retrieved but had been damaged.
Munro was even wearing a pair of the man’s trainers but handed them over to the woman when she asked for them.
They also recovered the box containing the man’s late mother’s ashes.
A Samsung TV and Bose stereo system were also stolen but were not recovered.
When the flat owner’s partner and her friends entered his flat to return the stolen items, they found evidence that Munro had been sleeping in the man’s bed.
Thief ‘literally stepped onto my life’
He had also been through every room, cupboard and box in the property.
In a witness statement to police, the victim said: “The male has literally stepped onto my life and been living in my address coming and going as he likes.
“I am very angry that this male has been through my whole address.
“It is very upsetting.”
The man was particularly upset that Munro had taken his late mother’s ashes.
He continued: “The value to what is damaged and stolen doesn’t compare to the feeling that I have right now and will have for the rest of my days.”
Munro was arrested and later told police that he had been using the man’s address to make Pot Noodles due to not having electricity in his own flat.
The total value of goods stolen was approximately £11,000 of which around £9,700 was recovered.
Munro, of Lewis Road, Aberdeen, pled guilty to two charges of theft by housebreaking.
Defence agent Lynn Bentley told the court her client was aged 23 physically but that that was not his “cognitive age”.
She explained Munro suffers from a chromosome disorder, had foetal alcohol syndrome and had been in foster care since he was four.
The solicitor said: “This is a young man who, effectively, is on his own and has been for a number of years.
“He became lost.”
Ms Bentley said Munro began regularly committing crimes and received his first jail sentence for a fire-raising offence.
Lee Munro ‘simply wanted a home, which he hasn’t had for a very long time’
She said: “Since that time, prison has little or no effect. It’s a safe place for him. That’s the saddest thing about it.”
Munro had discovered the key to his neighbour’s flat after breaking into a storage cupboard and went in “initially to use it as his own”.
Ms Bentley went on: “He moved the items from his neighbour’s flat and put them into his own flat to make it, as he says, a home.”
She said Munro “knows he shouldn’t have done it” but added he “does still have considerable difficulties”.
The lawyer explained his thought process had been “well he’s got it, I want it”.
She added: “He knows the difference between right and wrong, but in his head he justifies what he does. ‘I want it – I take it’.”
Regarding the ashes, Ms Bentley said Munro had placed the box on his mantlepiece just as it had been on the complainer’s mantlepiece.
She continued: “This isn’t someone doing something for financial gain. He simply wanted a home, which is something he hasn’t had for a very long time.”
Ms Bentley concluded by saying Munro “perhaps made a poor choice” in breaking into that particular flat as the bike helmets and artwork “indicate there may be a group to which the complainer belongs”.
Sheriff Christine McCrossan jailed Munro for 12 months.
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