Fife thief has torn her family apart

Father says daughter who stole his life savings deserved to be jailed

A Fife woman who stole a family safe containing nearly £50,000 to fund a lavish spending spree has torn her family apart, her father said.

Derek Reid’s daughter Lisa was jailed this week after being found guilty of taking the family savings from his Montrose home. The mother of one used it to pay for cosmetic surgery, a holiday and cars.

When police raided her Kelty home, they found an “Aladdin’s cave” of new furniture, toys, clothes and shoes.

Mr Reid had held the cash – £48,700 in £20 notes – for his whole family. Nothing has been recovered.

After his 29-year-old daughter was jailed for two years, he said: “She needed to get a custodial sentence and hopefully while she is in prison she will wake up and smell the coffee.

“She has lost more than the money she took – she has lost her family as well. It is sad, awful in fact.”

A father yesterday said he was pleased to see his daughter sent to prison after she stole his family’s savings to pay for a spending spree and “boob job”.

Lisa Reid and her partner Mark Green were jailed for a total of four and a half years after being convicted of hatching a plot to steal nearly £50,000 from Derek Reid.

Mr Reid, of Ferryden, Montrose, said the theft had torn his family apart and the couple had got what they deserved.

He said: “She needed to get a custodial sentence and hopefully while she is in prison she will wake up and smell the coffee.

“I just hope she will come out of jail a better person. She is still my daughter but this whole thing has been very difficult for us as a family.

“She has lost more than the money she took, she’s lost her family as well. It is sad. Awful in fact.”

Mr Reid said he had lost every penny of the £48,700 the couple took.

“The money means nothing to me. Money is replaceable. It is the damage it has done to my family which hurts most,” he added.

Mother-of-one Reid, 29, was jailed for two years after planning the scheme to rob her father’s home and steal his safe while he was abroad on holiday.

Green, 35, was jailed for 30 months for carrying out the break-in, while Reid attempted to give herself an alibi by spending the day with one of her sisters.

After stealing the cash the pair went on a month-long spending spree that included booking a cosmetic surgery break in Belgium and buying numerous pairs of Ugg boots.

The couple bought three cars within a few days and they blew thousands of pounds on toys and clothes during the run-up to Christmas.

When their home in Kelty was raided by police two months after the theft, more than £22,000 had been spent and a treasure trove of items was stacked inside.

Sheriff Gillian Wade said: “This was a planned offence and both of you seem to be equally culpable for what went on.”

She told Reid: “You accept you were the person behind it and that it was your idea and that it was you who drove your partner into perpetrating this offence.

“Mr Green’s role was far greater than he is prepared to admit. I do not accept that you were an innocent bystander who was brought in at the last minute.

“It was carried out without any regard for the victims of the crime and I see no alternative to custodial sentences.”

The couple had denied the crime but CCTV footage contradicted their evidence about where they had been on the day of the break-in.

Reid told officers that, despite being out of work, she had saved her benefits to pay for the items and for a cosmetic surgery holiday to Belgium.

In evidence, DC Kelly Webster told the court: “There were boxes and boxes of shoes, brand new in the box.” Reid replied: “I know I’ve got a lot of shoes.” She told the officer: “Financially, I’m totally fine.”

The duo spent £1,830 on beds the day after taking the suitcase-style safe and police had to use a large van to take away all the new gear in their spare room.

Derek Reid told the trial his family was like the characters from the 1980s sitcom Bread because they all kept their money in a safe in his home.

The court was told that £48,700 in £20 notes was kept bundled up and stored in a spare bedroom at the family home.

“If you watched that programme from many years ago, Bread, that is like the way we worked,” Mr Reid said.

“Most of my bairns can’t keep money, they just squander it. I’ve got a big, bought house – I didn’t need it.”

The court was told he had been holidaying on the Isle of Wight on September 10 2016 when he got a call to tell him the safe had been taken along with its contents.

Reid, 29, and yardsman Green, of Croftangry Road, Kelty, were found guilty of breaking in on September 10 2016 and stealing a safe and forcing it open to steal its £48,700 contents.

she has lost more than all the money she took, she’s lost her family aswell

Derek Reid said the cash taken by his daughter Lisa Reid, below, was kept in his home like the family from the 1980s TV show Bread.