Bungling raider was battered by startled flat owner
Lousy looter pinned down on bed until police arrived
A burglar who crept into a sleeping man’s bedroom got a nasty surprise when the victim woke up and battered him. Reice Harrison, 22, was
was flattened and pinned down until cops arrived after his noisy fumbling startled Kenneth Gray.
He stole a watch and emptied a wallet after sneaking through the flat — but was forced to hand it back after the tables were turned.
The thief was caged for 22 months at Paisley Sheriff Court after he admitted breaking into the home.
Prosecutor Pamela Brady told how Harrison got his comeuppance after clambering onto a wheelie bin and forcing open a kitchen window.
She said: “Mr Gray woke up just before 2am.
“He had been awakened by a sound in the bedroom.
“He became aware of a male figure standing in the doorway.
“A struggle took place between Mr Gray and the accused.
“Mr Gray was eventually able to restrain him.
“He had pulled him down onto his bed and pulled his arm up his back and called police.
“They found the accused and complainer within the bedroom.
“They saw the accused was being restrained.
“He was placed in handcuffs and removed from the house.”
The court heard Mr Gray had locked up the flat before he went to bed on last November 8.
The kitchen window had a dodgy latch and did not fully close, but was pulled over tightly.
Harrison had climbed inside and swiped £55 and the timepiece before heading for the bedroom in Paisley’s Brown Street.
Cops carried out a sweep of the building after they led the crook out.
They spotted the upturned bin outside and a crowbar lying next to it.
Officers found a Fossil watch stashed in his trouser pocket and seized £55 in tenners and a fiver.
Defence lawyer Gordon Ritchie insisted his client had broke in after popping pills.
He said: “He’s been out at night and seen the opportunity of a house in darkness at night, with the window open.
“He’s taken advantage of this opportunity.
“This has to be looked at through the background of a fairly extensive criminal record for somebody his age.
“At the time, he was very much under the influence of street Valium and they have clearly had an effect on him and his behaviour.
“He has never managed to deal with the drug problem that has followed him since his early teenage years.”
Mr Ritchie told how the Harrison had spent years in a young offenders’ institutions and become hooked on drugs.
He asked the court to spare him jail and order him to carry out a detox programme.
But Sheriff Tom McCartney warned there could be no alternative but another stretch behind bars.
He said: “My judgement, having considered the matter, is that a prison sentence requires to be imposed in respect of this matter.”
Harrison, formerly of Greenend Avenue, Johnstone, was sent back to prison to finish a previous ninemonth sentence and was handed a further 13 months.