Charity shops raided

A heartless drug addict carried out shoplifting raids on three charity shops in the one day in a bid to feed his addiction.

William Peacock targeted stores owned by Debra, The Salvation Army and Cancer Research UK in Paisley.

Peacock, 52, stole a quantity of kitchen utensils from Debra on August 17 this year.

He also stole glasses from The Salvation Army store in the town – and household items and spectacles from the Cancer Research UK store.

Peacock, of Anderson Drive, Renfrew, had admitted his guilt over the thefts at a previous court hearing, sentence was deferred for him to be of good behaviour, and he returned to the dock on Monday to learn his fate.

Sheriff Craig Harris pointed out that he had deferred sentence for Peacock to stay out of trouble and be assessed by social workers to see if he would be suitable for a Drug Treatment and Testing Order (DTTO).

A DTTO sees a criminal going unpunished do their crimes, instead being placed on a court-supervised program which seeks to get them clean - and bring their lawbreaking to an end.

The sheriff said: “The report tells me a Drug Treatment and Testing Order is really not suitable for you at this stage, but what I’m going to do is keep a close eye on you by having you back to court regularly.

“I’m going to impose an order that’s really designed to address your drug issues.

“This is an alternative to custody.

“If you breach the order, the court will be out of options.”

Sheriff Harris placed Peacock on a Community Payback Order, telling him he will be supervised by social workers for 18 months.