Drunken duo’s cafe break-in
Pair in late-night raid for more booze
Two men who drunkenly broke into a popular Stirling cafe in the dead of night and attempted to steal alcohol have been dealt with in court.
Darren Thomas Moffat Crossley (42) and James Ratcliffe (29) gained entry to the Smithy Cafe on St Mary’s Wynd on June 15 last year.
Sheriff William Gilchrist dealt with both men by way of an alternative to custody when they appeared in the dock on Wednesday morning.
The court heard how Crossley, of Douglas Street, and Ratcliffe, whose address was given as Cowane Street, had been drinking on the evening of the break-in.
The owner of the cafe locked up the building, which is covered by CCTV, at around 8pm — setting an alarm in the process.
However, at around 12.05am he was alerted to the fact the alarm was sounding and, joined by his daughter, made his way to the cafe, arriving there around 10 minutes later.
Upon arrival, they noticed that a rear door was open and entry had been forced to an exterior metal gate, with three padlocks broken.
They also spotted muddy handprints on a counter, a smashed CCTV camera and two cases of wine within a bag near the rear door.
CCTV was analysed by police and images showed the two men breaking in. Both were traced soon after and cautioned and charged.
The court was told that although nothing was taken around £140 worth of damage was caused.
Representing Crossley, defence solicitor Ken Dalling said: “This incident was one of spontaneous drunken folly, absent of any planning.
“The items had been moved but not removed. He had been drinking and the decision was taken in error to try and get more drink.
“He is a 42-year-old man and his last significant conviction was more than nine years prior to this incident.”
Ratcliffe’s defence solicitor added: “He is a young man who did not have problems to seek earlier in life.
“He accepts his record is abysmal and doesn’t want to hide from that. He has accepted his responsibility and is here [in court] to face the music.
“He has been dealt with by way of custody in the past. My submission is that he is given another opportunity.”
Handing down sentence Sheriff Gilchrist said: “Mr Crossley — in your case I am prepared to apply an alternative to custody. I will deal with this on the basis it was a drunken escapade.
“Mr Ratcliffe, the difficulty is you have an extensive recent record of dishonesty. My initial feeling was to send you to prison but I’ve decided not to do so with some hesitation.
“The principal reason is that you were sentenced to 10 months for another offence which happened around the same time. I’m not going to return you to custody.”
Both men were ordered to undertake 225 hours of unpaid work in eight months while Ratcliffe was placed on an additional 12 months supervision order.
Sheriff Gilchrist told him: “If you don’t comply you’ll be brought back here and sentenced anew. If you commit further crimes of dishonesty you’ll certainly go to prison.”