Blind man turned to shoplifting after jail

A blind Perth man turned to shoplifting to survive after he was released from prison and had no benefits.

Forty-five-year-old Christopher Jones - who previously tried to blow himself up, causing £100,000 of damage in a gas explosion at a tenement block - was spared a jail sentence at Perth Sheriff Court this week.

Instead, he will be supervised for a year as part of a community payback order.

He will also have to stay in his home from 9pm-7am, seven days a week, for the next four months.

Lawyer David Holmes said his client was now blind in both eyes.

He has no guide dog at present and would therefore be able to carry out the Restriction of Liberty Order.

The accused, of St Catherine’s Square, admitted four shoplifting charges after he was helped into the dock by a court official on Wednesday.

He stole a quantity of meat from the Perth branch of Marks and Spencer on November 9 this year and on October 16 he helped himself to a carbon monoxide smoke alarm, a smoke detector and kitchen scales from The Food Warehouse, at the St Catherine’s Retail Park, Perth.

On March 23 this year, he tried to walk out of Sainsbury’s, in Perth High Street, without paying for two bottles of vodka - and on November 5, 2018, he also stole a quantity of meat and confectionery at Morrison’s, again on the St Catherine’s Retail Park.

Mr Holmes said they were “acquisitive crimes” as he had no money when released from an earlier prison sentence.

He urged the sheriff to impose an alternative to custody, pointing out his client had spent a “significant time in prison” over the past few years.

Mr Holmes added: “If he does offend, the court will be limited in what it can do as it must protect the stores where he commits crimes.”

Sheriff Keith O’Mahony told Jones: “It seems there may be some benefit to supervision in your case.”

But he warned him: “If you breach these orders, there’s really going to be no alternative left to me but to impose the alternative of prison.”

In July, 2017, Jones was jailed for two years after he let gas leak into his former home in Dundee’s Park Avenue.

While sitting on the toilet, he lit a cigarette which caused a massive blast, leading to the residents of eight flats being evacuated.

The court heard Jones was distraught after being dumped by his partner after a relationship lasting less than a month. He had then tried to commit suicide by blowing himself up. He had earlier stalked the woman by repeatedly sending her flowers and tying a tarpaulin hammock to her car expressing his love for her.

Jones admitted charges including stalking and starting the explosion.