Jailed, thief who broke ankles after raid on sheltered housing

A THIEF was forced to call 999 after plunging 20ft as he fled a sheltered housing block he had broken into.

Desmond Marr shattered both heels when he fell from a wall after raiding Dudhope Villa in Dundee.

He used ladders left by maintenance workers to climb in via the roof, then set them up on a 5ft wall at the rear of the property to get away.

But Marr, who stole £1,942 of residents’ cash during his raid, did not realise there was a 20ft drop on the other side and fell, leaving himself badly injured.

He called an ambulance, but A&E staff at Ninewells Hospital became suspicious when they found the cash, two credit cards and a business cheque book in his possession.

The 46-year-old was left in a wheelchair for nine months – but just weeks after getting back on his feet he was out stealing again, caught hurling a manhole cover through a patio door to get into a flat in Dundee.

Marr, a prisoner at Perth prison, appeared at Dundee Sheriff Court yesterday where he pleaded guilty to charges of theft by housebreaking committed on August 19 last year and June 6 this year.

Fiscal depute Saima Rasheed told the court police who were called to the sheltered housing complex following the raid searched an area of waste ground where Marr had been found by ambulance staff. Officers discovered a pool of blood, a set of keys and a wallet containing a credit card belonging to a resident.

The court also heard that following the break-in at the flat in Fyffe Street in June a neighbour who heard glass shattering saw the accused running away with a suitcase.

When Marr was traced by police the case was found to contain a laptop, games console, travel documents and a passport belonging to the person who lived in the flat. He also had £2,000 and 300 euros in cash on him.

Sheriff Alastair Carmichael jailed Marr for 20 months. He said: ‘There is no alternative to a custodial sentence.’