Failed housebreaker jailed

Aman who went on a failed housebreaking spree in Kinghorn with a former jail buddy has been locked up again.

Brandon Stewart, 21, was also sentenced for mounting a pavement and hiding a phone in jail.

Stewart, aka Brandon McMillan, was found in the curtilage of four homes in the early hours of June 1, as well as a building site.

He first triggered a doorbell CCTV system on Birch Avenue. The occupant had a notification on her phone that at 5am someone was at her door two hours earlier. Footage showed the accused trying to open the door.

He also tried his luck at properties in Rowan Wynd. He was seen in the street with another person who carried a “red implement similar to a crowbar.”

Shortly after 4am, the pair made their way to a residential building site at Lochside Grange.

A neighbour was woken by their dog barking.

Fiscal depute Jamie Hilland said the neighbour “saw two men walking down the street wearing tracksuits.”

The men climbed the wall and opened the door to the office.

Mr Hilland added: “The witness phoned police and watched the men leave.”

The pair disappeared in Stewart’s car in the direction of Burntisland.

Stewart also tried a house in Willow Crescent. Mr Hilland said: “At around 4.15am, (the occupant) was woken by the sound of banging from outside at the rear of the property.

“She saw two men in the back garden attempting to gain entry.”

McMillan appeared by video link at Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court.

Stewart was sentenced for driving offences committed on June 20.

He had been banned from driving but spotted by police in Burntisland, where he mounted the kerb and drove on the footpath.

Defence solicitor Emma Todd said Stewart had never had formal education and had taken “excess Valium (diazepam)” when he tried the doors.

She added: “He has very limited intelligence.

“He spent the majority of his last four or five years in custody,” she said.

Sheriff Keith O’Mahony gave Stewart 18 months for the attempted housebreakings and a fourmonth driving ban for the motoring offences.

He was admonished for the phone offence.

SPREE: Stewart travelled around Kinghorn trying various doors but failed each time.