Bungling thief fell off shop roof after stealing cigarettes.

COURT: Man admits stealing £3,830 of cigarettes and tobacco

A bungling shop raider fell from a roof after a contraption he built to get away collapsed underneath him.

Stephen Skinnider tried to climb out of the Fife shop with £3,830-worth of cigarettes and tobacco.

The trolley, upon which he had piled a milk cage and a set of ladders, slid away and he tumbled to the ground.

Skinnider, 40, succeeded on his second attempt but his escapades were caught on CCTV.

The recovering drug addict admitted breaking into Mountfleurie Mini Market in Leven on March 8 and stealing cigarettes and alcohol.

He is already serving a prison sentence in Perth but was jailed for a further 14 months when he appeared at Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court yesterday.

His “farcical” antics provoked laughter on the public benches as the court heard about the raid.

Skinnider had broken in through the flat roof of the shop owned by Muhammed Saeed in Mountfleurie Street, using a ladder.

Depute fiscal Clare Bremner said: “He was seen on CCTV to manoeuvre a shopping trolley under the hole in the roof, place a metal milk cage in the trolley, and thereafter put a set of small ladders on top of this to climb out.

“The CCTV shows the trolley sliding away, as it wouldn’t even take his weight.

“He did manage to escape from the roof on the second attempt, but he was identified by the police officers.”

His solicitor David Cranston described how he built the pyramid of items on a trolley to make his getaway, before “crashing” to the ground as he tried to clamber out, adding: “It was as badly planned as it sounds.”

Skinnider was traced at his partner’s home nearby.

Mr Cranston said Skinnider, of Stanmore Place, Leven, who had a long term drug habit, had taken Valium and remembered little of the offence.

Sheriff Grant McCulloch said: “It certainly wouldn’t have been comical or farcical to the shopkeeper to discover what happened to his shop. Only a custodial sentence is appropriate.”

Damage caused to the premises was valued at around £5,000. About £200 of bread and rolls were crushed when Skinnider fell.

“It was as badly planned as it sounds. SOLICITOR DAVID CRANSTON