Thief jailed after being caught red-handed during raid on Inverness home
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Leslie Goodall was seen climbing in the window of the house in Evan Barron Road on the evening of March 21 along with another man. Neighbours called the police.
Appearing from custody Goodall, c/ o HMP Inverness admitted breaking into the property with intent to steal.
Sheriff Gordon Fleetwood heard the property the 36-year-old broke into was a two-bedroomed terraced house in Hilton and the householder had been away from home on the night.
About 6pm on March 21 neighbours in nearby houses heard banging and depute fiscal Roderick Urquhart said they saw two men open the living room window, climb in and draw the curtains.
“Police arrived within minutes and found that the front door was now unlocked,” he said.
“Noticing that the window was also ajar and seeing movement behind the frosted glass door they entered the house and found (Goodall) at the bottom of the stairs placing items in a rucksack.”
The fiscal told Sheriff Fleetwood that the rucksack was searched and found to contain a DVD player, wires and two speakers.
He was detained on suspicion of housebreaking then arrested on another matter and taken to Burnett Road Police Station.
“The police found that there was damage to the back door of the house and had the locks changed before the householder returned. He was later able to identify the property in the rucksack as his. It appears he did not suffer the loss of any property.”
Goodall’s solicitor Neil Wilson said his client knew he was facing custody and he had been on remand since March 22.
The solicitor said Goodall claimed the householder was known to him and some of his clothes were in the property but he understood the householder had abandoned the property and he had gone to collect his belongings.
“The break-in was unprofessional and inept. It was seen by people across the street.”
Mr Wilson said Goodall got into a drunken state and carried out the offence.
He asked the sheriff to take into account the guilty plea before going to trial, the time Goodall had spent in custody and the fact that the householder had all of his property returned to him.
