Sentence deferred on man who acted as lookout for break-in

A man who acted as a lookout for a housebreaker had sentence deferred for a background report yesterday.

Inverness Sheriff Court heard yesterday that Andrew Harvey, 34, of Victoria Street, Harthill, Shotts, acted with another to break into a house in Green Drive, Inverness, in late 2013 while the owner was on holiday in New Zealand.

Fiscal depute Roderick Urquhart said the alarm went off at 11pm on November 9, 2013, and police attended.

Mr Urquhart said: “They found two windows at the rear of the property had been broken and an attempt made to enter the house.

“CID officers attended and found efforts had been made to enter the dwelling using a metal spike and that a door mat had been used to muffle the sounds of breaking glass.

“On December 11, 2013, while carrying out inquiries in relation to a separate matter, detective constables interviewed Harvey.”

Mr Urquhart added: “In the course of the interview he told the constables he had been posted as lookout for a well-known housebreaker whom he named.

“He gave considerable detail displaying special knowledge about the date, the whereabouts of the house, the description of it, the method used, and that when the alarm activated they had both fled empty-handed.

“When the householder returned it was discovered the perpetrator had removed cabling from the CCTV rendering it defective.”

Harvey returns to court on July 27 to be sentenced.