Thief could have ‘bled to death’ after cutting his leg during till theft

Ahapless shop raider injured himself so badly during a bungled break-in a sheriff told him he was lucky to be alive.

William Gillilan suffered a serious leg injury smashing the window of a cafe and left a clear trail of blood to where he collapsed, clutching the stolen till.

Gillilan of Skinnergate, Perth, who had taken 20 Valium tablets before carrying out the theft, was jailed for more than 19 months by Sheriff William Wood.

The sheriff told him: “It is perhaps fortunate for you that you did not injure your leg more seriously and bleed to death.

“Here you are, aged 42, so you are not a young man any more and you have a fairly lengthy string of previous convictions.

“You took 20 Valium tablets that evening. You can’t remember exactly what happened but you have to accept the consequences for all of your conduct.”

The accused was on licence at the time, having been freed early from a previous jail term, so Sheriff Wood ordered him to serve out that 183-day period.

He also added a further 13 months in jail.

Perth Sheriff Court heard Gillilan had managed to avoid the security system in the coffee shop by creeping to the counter in a hunched manner and ducking to avoid sensors.

However, he was not so nimble as he clambered back through the window he had smashed with a paving stone to gain entry to Willows in central Perth.

He was carrying the till – containing £150 – when he caught his leg on the broken glass, causing a major gash which left a trail of blood from the premises.

Gillilan was eventually found lying nearby in a pool of blood, with the stolen till by his side, when medics turned up to treat him after being alerted by passers-by.

Police were called to the scene and they followed the blood trail back to Willows.

A check of the CCTV revealed Gillilan breaking in and stealing the till.

Fiscal depute Michael Sweeney told the court: “Police were contacted by the ambulance service to attend a male suffering from a serious leg injury.

“The ambulance service were with the accused. He was in possession of the cash register and there was a trail of blood leading directly to Willows.

“Police observed a smashed glass panel and a substantial amount of blood directly next to it. CCTV showed him standing outside with a large paving slab.

“He is then seen to enter the premises. He is seen creeping in slowly and bent over. He stands up fully and walks behind the counter to the till area.

“He has avoided triggering the alarms by the way he creeps in and ducks down to avoid the sensors. He goes behind the counter, removes the till and leaves.”

Willows’ boss Michael White confirmed it was the second time the cafe had been broken into since the start of lockdown.

Gillilan admitted breaking into Willows in Perth on December 16 and stealing a till and £150.

He also admitted using a screwdriver to break a car window with intent to rob it on the same day and breaking into a works van and stealing £700-worth of gear the day before.

Mr Sweeney said Gillilan failed to get away with anything from the works van either as he had stashed the goods nearby and they were found by the owner.

“He said he could not remember anything because he was on drugs at the time,” the prosecutor told the court.

Solicitor David Holmes, defending, said: “He was not in the best of health before this incident and continued to suffer after it.

“He sees this as part of the overall pattern of him taking drugs for a number of years and the physical consequences of that are now with him.

“He must find a way of ending this cycle of taking drugs. He was only aware of what had taken place because he was informed by others.”

INCIDENT: William Gillilan, top, injured his leg on the pane of glass, below, he broke with a paving slab to gain entry to the Willows cafe where he stole the till.