'I am f***ing emptying his f***ing place' – Businessman jailed after stealing £110k of machinery from Highland firm
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A businessman who stole over £110,000 worth of plant machinery from his father-in-law's peat excavation company yard almost five years ago has been jailed for 21 months.
The incident happened in August 2018 when 51-year-old Alexander Ferguson, now of Broad Street, Glasgow broke into the Moy Moss compound near Dalmagarry, with others, and removed several items of heavy machinery.
He was a former business associate of a well-known Inverness entrepreneur Brian MacGregor whose property it was and married his daughter before they fell out.
Inverness Sheriff Court had previously been told that most of the stolen goods were recovered although a £15,000 JCB telehandler was still missing.
Ferguson appeared before Sheriff Ian Cruickshank and admitted the theft by opening lockfast premises. Sentence had been deferred for a background report and evidence of funds to repay Mr MacGregor.
Fiscal depute Robert Weir had told the court that Ferguson and Mr MacGregor had previously been operating together in business for a number of years although there was no formal arrangement.
Mr Weir said that Mr MacGregor had received a phone call from an employee to notify him of the theft and the police were contacted.
"Mr MacGregor thereafter made his own enquiries into the incident and apprised the police of the information. He identified parties involved in transporting and the recipient of some of the vehicles who in turn implicated the accused as being responsible," Mr Weir went on.
The prosecutor added that after Ferguson's arrest, his mobile phones were seized and analysis of them revealed audio files implicating him in the thefts.
Mr Weir said that one was to his father on the day of the theft. It said: "Right, I know I can, I know I can trust you to keep your mooth (correct) shut right. Never mention this. I've got five low loaders sitting here the now. I am f***ing emptying his f***ing place."
Mr MacGregor valued the stolen property as £110,000 with the unrecovered vehicle valued at £15,000, Mr Weir said.
But Ferguson was unable to provide satisfactory evidence to the sheriff that he had the means to recompense Mr MacGregor.
Sheriff Cruickshank told him: "There is some kind of explanation for this about a business venture but I have to say I am none the wiser about what it was. I have asked previously for information about compensation and yet again there is none before me.
"However, you did steal £110,000 of machinery and there is only one disposal for that, which is a custodial sentence."
Ferguson's defence counsel Pauline Baillie told the court her client was waiting for an inheritance and would have funds in the next 30 days. But Ferguson provided no definite proof of that.
Ms Baillie said: "There was a business relationship between him and his father-in-law and the businesses were combined. Then he got a message from his former father-in-law to say he was no longer involved.
"There was significant value in what his input was to the company but as there was no formal agreement, there was no formal way he could be compensated and he took matters into his own hands."
