A blundering would-be thief who broke into a Moray dentistry was traced after accidentally leaving a false tooth behind.
Staff at Buckie Dental Practice arrived at work earlier this year to find a glass panel on its front door broken, a toilet window smashed and rooms in a state of upheaval.
But bungling David McMillan, who said he was too drunk to remember the incident on March 13, was tracked when workers located his denture at reception.
Fiscal Ruaridh McAllister said the 42-year-old had also left his mobile phone and cigarette lighter in the building after an aborted attempt to ransack it.
The fiscal said: “Just before 9am staff saw the glass panel on the door at the entrance had been smashed, and realised there was a mobile phone and lighter in among the broken glass on the floor.
“They later went into a disabled toilet and noticed that a window there had also been smashed as a means of gaining entry.
“It was clear that somebody had been through the practice as the majority of drawers had been left open in all the rooms.”
It was when cleaning the debris at the reception desk that an employee stumbled upon McMillan’s missing tooth.
Mr McAllister added: “They checked patient records and found the denture was a close match to the accused.”
Police then swabbed the false tooth and found it matched McMillan’s DNA.
McMillan, of 23 St Peter’s Terrace, Buckpool, later admitted to breaking into the premises with intent to steal.
Solicitor Brent Lockie said his client was “very, very drunk” at the time but is now tying to combat his addiction issues.
Sheriff Chris Dickson told the persistent offender that his record “was a very bad one” but agreed to offer him “one last chance”.
McMillan was placed under supervision for two years and ordered to perform 200 hours of unpaid work over the next six months.
McMillan also admitted an assault charge yesterday, but sentence on the matter was deferred until his progress in completing the community payback order is reviewed.
