Charity tincash thiefsent toprison

A heartless crook who entered a Dunblane supermarket and stole money from charity tins has been jailed.

John Halliday (55) helped himself to cash, food and cigarettes from the Tesco store at Springfield Terrace on May 6.

Sheriff Wyllie Robertson sentenced him to six months in prison when he appeared in the dock to face the music last week.

Stirling Sheriff Court heard how police attended the store after an alarm was activated at around 4.20am on the morning in question.

When they arrived they found three charity buckets on the ground, damage to a tobacco counter and a number of chocolate bars on the floor.

Fiscal depute Laura Knox said: “The officers then saw the accused at the rear of the store. He was curled into a ball and smoking a cigarette.

“There was no resistance when he was approached by police.”

After being handcuffed and taken to the police office Halliday was found to have a trouser pocket full of coins – amounting to around £10 in total.

Police concluded these had been taken from the three charity buckets as they were now empty.

When cautioned and charged he replied: “Guilty. I did it.”

Defence solicitor Stephen Maguire said in mitigation: “He arrived in the area in the early hours but has limited recollection of events. He accepts he was inside the store and did help himself to items before police attended.”

Halliday, whose address was given as the Hamish Allan Centre in Glasgow, was jailed for six months.

This was backdated to May 8 to take into account the time he has already spent in custody.