Robber in naked prison pics stunt locked up again for house theft
BY ALAN McEWEN A VIOLENT thug jailed over the racist killing of a Chinese delivery driver is back behind bars.
Michael Roberts, 24, was caged for a housebreaking carried out just three months after his release from jail.
Roberts was in the dock alongside Keir Rodger, 25, who was also accused of the break-in, at Edinburgh Sheriff Court on Thursday.
Rodger had his not guilty plea accepted by the prosecutor.
Both were convicted for their roles in the racist killing of Simon San in 2010.
Simon, 40, was killed by a single punch from John Reid, then 16, who was sentenced to five years for culpable homicide.
Roberts and Rodger, who were also 16, pleaded guilty to assaulting Simon by rocking his car and forcing him to leave it outside his family’s takeaway in Lochend, Edinburgh.
Roberts was given 42 months for assault for his role in Simon’s death.
Now he’s been imprisoned for seven months for the housebreaking, which was carried out in Tranent, East Lothian, in March.
Police snared the repeat offender for the housebreaking after he left a sock snatched from the home in a nearby field and his DNA was found on it.
Fiscal depute Kirsty Lyons said the four-bedroom home was raided after a bathroom window was forced open.
Ms Lyons said the owner returned to find the place “ransacked”.
The stolen property included a PlayStation 4, laptop, jewellery, three pairs of men’s boxer shorts and a pillowcase with a value placed on the missing items of up to £4000.
Hours later, a pillowcase containing jewellery and other items was discovered in a field and reported to police.
Ms Lyons said: “DNA analysis of an odd grey sock in the pillowcase found DNA from the accused.” She added CCTV from a neighbour’s property showed Roberts approaching.
Ross Gardner, defending Roberts, said his client had been released from prison in January, found himself homeless, and was “led into previous vices he’d indulged”.
In 2017, we told how Roberts shared nude jail snaps on Instagram and Facebook, boasting of an easy life inside.
He gleefully mocked prison bosses in his posts, and uploaded a video of killer pal Reid punching another inmate.
Roberts was serving three years for assisting Reid during the robbery of Michael Glancy in March that year.
The court heard the pair pushed their way into the victim’s flat armed with a bread knife and took £250.
Police were forced to apologise to the San family after an inquiry found they had failed to treat the death as a race attack.