A serial offender whose crimes included a brazen theft and a cruel fraud against a disabled man has been jailed for eight months.
In the fraud case, Jamie Cormie induced a man to hand over £40 after appearing at his door in Forfar and pretending to be a loan company collector. He then went back to the same victim the following day but didn’t get any more money.
Cormie, 22, of Goosecroft, Forfar, also admitted a theft from a Forfar street in which he stole a pair of joiner’s gloves which were sitting on a workbench outside the property.
The tradesman, who was working at the Prior Road property, saw him take the gloves just before 4pm and challenged Cormie, but he denied having them despite the bright orange items being clearly visible rolled up under his jacket.
The victim decided not to pursue Cormie, but reported the matter to police, and a short time later the accused was seen in the garden of a house in nearby Wylie Street looking through a window and trying a door handle before leaving.
Defence solicitor Nick Markowski said Cormie had been in a “pretty poor state” before being remanded in custody but was now “100% clean.”
“He knows what he did was wrong,” said Mr Markowski.
“He has no convictions for fraud and not many for dishonesty.”
Sheriff Gregor Murray told Cormie: “Several factors aggravate your cases, including the status of the person you defrauded and that the offences occurred three days after the court placed you on a community payback order.
“I want to give you a clean slate when you come out,” said the sheriff.