Thank you for the new trainers, pal!
Teen thief’s send-off to employee of sports shop as he raced out wearing the £145 footwear he was trying on
A teenage thief tried on a pair of trainers worth £145 at a Stirling store and told a member of staff “thanks for the shoes pal” before running outside.
Jordan Hutton, of Cultenhove Road, St Ninians, admitted a charge of stealing the trainers from JD Sports in the Thistle centre on November 18 last year.
The 19-year-old also pleaded guilty to nicking three bottles of Buckfast, a Tennent’s lager ten pack and food.
All three offences took place while Hutton was on bail on another matter.
The fiscal depute told Stirling Sheriff Court last week that Hutton entered JD Sports in the Thistles at 12.45pm on November 18.
The fiscal added: “He asked to try on a pair of trainers valued at £145 and once he had the shoes on his feet stated ‘thanks for the shoes pal’ and ran out the store.”
The trainers were later recovered.
The court also heard that Hutton stole two bottles of Buckfast costing £7.95 each at the Co-op in Bridge of Allan’s Fountain Road at 8.20am on November 16 last year.
He also entered the Co-op in Causewayhead Road at 7.50pm on November 26 and stole food, a ten-pack of Tennent’s lager and a bottle of Buckfast. The total value of these items was £37.10.
His solicitor Harry Couchlin told Sheriff Wyllie Robertson that his client had committed the offences “largely under the influence of alcohol and sometimes cannabis”.
The lawyer however pointed out that Hutton had “addressed these difficulties” since his remand in custody. “Further work” was required over an extended period of time, Mr Couchlin added, and Hutton wanted the opportunity to do that through a community payback order. Punishment for the offences, he said, could be met with a restriction of liberty order.
He said: “Mr Hutton recognises that at a relatively young age he has accumulated a number of offences and you will take a serious view of that.”
Mr Couchlin also stressed that Hutton had entered the care system as a child.
Sheriff Robertson sentenced Hutton to a community payback order with two years’ supervision - reduced from 30 months’ – due to the timing of the guilty pleas.
He was also placed on a ninemonth restriction of liberty order as an alternative to custody, confining him to his home between the hours of 7pm and 7am seven days a week.