The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Notorious ‘666’ thief broke into monastery
Aheroin addict with a “666” tattoo was found on an octogenarian priest’s bed during a raid on a Perth monastery.
Thief Alan Brown was sitting on Father Charles Corrigan’s bed rifling through his stuff when he was confronted by the 80-year-old clergyman.
Brown – previously dubbed Scotland’s lowest crook after a series of raids – fled with a handful of cash from St Mary’s Monastery in Perth.
The incident was the culmination of a 24-hour spree during which Brown stole from a pub, broke into an elderly man’s home and tried to steal from a £350,000 lodge house.
Fiscal depute Marie Lyons told Perth Sheriff Court: “This took place at St Mary’s Monastery in Hatton Road, Perth.
“It happened at 10.30am on August 3 2021.
“Father Corrigan is the rector of the monastery and is aged 80.
“He was with some of the other residents having refreshments and returned to his room at 11am.
“He found the accused sitting in his bed, going through his belongings.
“He confronted the accused, who then left, escorted out by Father Corrigan.
“When he returned to his room he discovered £9 cash missing from his jacket and £20 change had been taken from a box on the desk.”
Brown, 40, had stolen a jacket from the staff room of a Wetherspoons pub the night before and was wearing it during the monastery raid.
A CCTV check showed Brown had left the pub wearing the stolen blue jacket.
Brown was then seen trying to jemmy open a window to get into Bowerswell Lodge but he was confronted and left the scene empty-handed.
He then turned up at the home of a 72-year-old man in Brompton Terrace and helped himself to cash and a quantity of tobacco.
Brown cut himself breaking in and left a bloody fingerprint on the window frame. His DNA was also discovered within the property.
Brown – who has around 100 previous convictions – admitted four crimes of dishonesty across the city on August 2 and 3 last year.
Solicitor Linda Clark, defending, gave the court a letter which Brown had written in which he asked for the sheriff to send him back to prison. She said he is in a cycle of offending and being sent to prison.
Sheriff Gillian Wade read the letter and said: “He’s not saying, ‘I’m sorry, I don’t want to get jailed’.
“He’s saying, ‘I’m terribly sorry – give me a custodial sentence’.”
She told Brown, whose address was given as C/O Perth Prison: “There is preying on elderly people.
“You’ve got an appalling record and you know very well a custodial sentence is going to follow.
“I take what you have said about the revolvingdoor situation you find yourself in. I will consider whether another intervention can be put in place to protect the public from further serious harm.”
She remanded Brown in custody for reports and told him: “You know there will be a custodial sentence.”
Brown – notorious for having the “number of the beast” 666 tattooed on his neck – previously committed offences in a hospital, a sports centre and a veterans’ war museum in a single afternoon in 2018. He was jailed for 30 months as a result of that two-hour drug-fuelled crime spree.
He already had previous convictions for robbing another priest and pilfering Remembrance Day cash.
Brown was described by a sheriff as “the lowest of the low” when he stole money being raised for wounded soldiers during the annual Poppy Day fundraiser.
He has also previously been convicted of stealing historically important war medals from Balhousie Castle and taking cash from children at a school sports event.