An alcohol thief was this week jailed for 212 days at Selkirk Sheriff Court, pictured, after also breaching bail conditions.
The hearing was told how the 22-year-old stole £155 worth of alcohol and soft drinks from La Contea in the town’s High Street on March 9.
Gary Stewart, of Beattie Court, Hawick, also admitted failing to pay a £22.50 taxi fare from Hawick to Chapel Street in Selkirk on April 21, as well as breaching a bail condition on March 19, and failing to comply with a curfew on April 11. Stewart was sentenced to 120 days’ imprisonment for the La Contea theft.
The court heard how the premises, adjoining the County Hotel, were locked at 1am and later that morning a rear door was found open and alcohol and soft drinks missing. Some 19 bottles of wine and other alcohol, along with soft drinks, had been taken.
Police, acting on information received, went to a flat in Chapel Street where Stewart was staying at the time. The householder told officers he woke to find a number of bottles in his fridge and wine beside a wheelie bin outside.
Stewart told police: “I didn’t plan it. I just went in and took it.”
Some £68 worth of the stolen drink was recovered.
Stewart received a consecutive sentence of 60 days’ imprisonment for the taxi fare offence.
“He told the driver he was going into a friend’s house to get money, and disappeared,” explained depute procurator fiscal Tessa Bradley.
Stewart was sentenced to a further 32 days’ jail for breaching bail conditions.