£3k bike haul teen is given prison warning

A Stirling teen was this week given supervision and unpaid work for thieving bicycles worth a total of £3000.

Eighteen-year-old Ross Smith, of Glasgow Road, admitted two charges of stealing bikes – one worth £2000 from Andrew Stewart Hall at Stirling University on May 5, 2020, as well as two bikes, each worth £500, from Woolcarders Court, Cambusbarron, the following day.

In a separate complaint Smith had also admitted a charge of assaulting a teenager to his injury by punching him on the head in a Stirling city centre street on October 21, 2020.

Fiscal depute Fiona Griffin told Stirling Sheriff Court on Wednesday that the £2000 bike stolen from the university grounds had not been recovered. The Cambusbarron bikes had been recovered.

As well as the thefts of the three bikes, this complaint had also included charges of assaulting a female at an address in Riverside; the theft of a bike in Barnton Street; assaulting a person unknown to the prosecutor in Murray Place and Upper Craigs by kicking him on the body, pursuing him, and repeatedly causing him to fall to the ground and striking him on the body with a bottle, and having an offensive weapon in a public place. Ross’s not guilty pleas to these four charges had been accepted by the Crown.

The court also heard that Ross is facing outstanding matters.

His agent Virgil Crawford told Stirling Sheriff Court that Ross was a young man who was receiving “quite significant”support from the care system within the community.

Mr Crawford said the accused “never had troubles to seek since the early years of childhood”and was moved from Ireland to Scotland and put into care.

The lawyer pointed out that Smith was suitable for supervision and unpaid work which he described as a“high tariff penalty” for a young man.

Sheriff Keith O’Mahony told Smith:“There are a number of factors in your favour which Mr Crawford points me towards.

“You are still a very young man. “My fear is this is the start of a significant offending career. I strongly hope I am wrong.”

Sheriff O’Mahony added that Ross’s offending had to stop or it would only lead to prison.

He sentenced him to a Community Payback Order comprising 18 months’supervision and 135 hours’unpaid work to be completed within 12 months.

Sentence on the charge of assaulting the teenager in Stirling city centre was deferred until April 20 to call alongside a review hearing.