Jail for ‘binge of bad behaviour’

Joyrider used boss’car and bank card

A joyrider careered around Perth after ‘borrowing’ his employers’ Land Rover Freelander 4x4 while they were on holiday.

Twenty-two-year-old Kieran O’Connor had been given a key to their farmhouse at Wester Greenside, near Abernethy, so he could look after their property and dogs.

But he found a credit card, in the name of Craig Haxton, among documents in the vehicle.

And he used it to systematically plunder his boss’s bank account of hundreds of pounds during what Sheriff William Wood described as “a three-day binge of bad behaviour.”

He branded the accused’s actions as a “considerable breach of trust” - and jailed him for six months at Perth Sheriff Court.

The provisional licence holder, who drove across the South Inch in a dangerous and reckless manner, while under the influence of alcohol, was also disqualified for 18 months.

He admitted a catalogue of 11 charges, committed between July 18 and 20 last year.

They included taking the vehicle without permission from the farmhouse, using it without insurance and without a qualified driver as he drove himself and friends into Perth, sometimes in the early hours.

He also stole Mr Haxton’s credit card and then used his PIN number to obtain a total of £700 from ATM machines at the Co-op, Bridge of Earn, Tesco, in Perth’s Edinburgh Road, and HSBC in the city’s High Street.

O’Connor also went online and used the card to pay an £85 phone bill with EE.

In addition, he forced open a cash box at the farm and stole an unspecified amount of cash Depute fiscal Bill Kermode said the accused was employed at the time by the owners of the property, Caroline Pye and Craig Haxton.

They left to go on holiday on Sunday, July 16, 2017, and he was given a key.

The Freelander was locked and parked outside although the keys were in the kitchen.

He didn’t have permission to use the vehicle, nor the credit card, and he was uninsured and a provisional licence holder.

O’Connor used the credit card to pay the phone bill on July 18 and the following day withdrew £250 from the cash machine at the Co-op.

On July 20, he picked up a friend from her home and then collected another friend from work in Perth’s Newrow.

“He drove the three of them back to the farmhouse where they began to drink alcohol,” explained the fiscal.

Around 11pm that night, he drove one of them back into Perth, stopping at Tesco to withdraw £200 from the store’s ATM.

O’Connor drove around various streets in the city before heading for the South Inch car park.

He was driving in a “careless and reckless manner” and at one point mounted the kerb and drove over the grass area to get back onto the Edinburgh Road.

About 1am on July 21, he decided again to return to Perth with the female and drove around various streets before parking in George Street.

He then gave her the credit card and PIN number and instructed her to withdraw £250 in cash from HSBC.

The farmhouse owners returned from holiday on July 23 and discovered that a cash box, containing between £500 and £600, was missing.

They then checked inside the Land Rover and found the credit card had gone.

“He contacted his bank and was advised of the transactions that had taken place while he was on holiday,” added Mr Kermode.

When O’Connor, of Blinkbonny Steading, Lindores, was interviewed, he admitted all the offences but initially denied taking the contents of the cash box.

Fingerprint evidence, however, later linked him to that.

Solicitor Pauline Cullerton said her client had paid back the bulk of the cash and there was only £170 outstanding.

He was still employed by the same company and despite what had taken place, they had confirmed they were “still willing” to keep him on.

“He has expressed remorse and realises what he has done is wrong and can’t be tolerated.”

She urged the sheriff to consider a Community Payback Order although he did have previous convictions for analogous offences.

But Sheriff Wood imposed a jail term, pointing out that his offending had taken place over three days and couldn’t be described as “a one-off or a matter of impulse.”

He‘s expressed remorse and realises what he has done is wrong and can’t be tolerated