A SHOCKED family returned to their home on Christmas Day to come “face-to-face” with an inebriated housebreaker in the process of looting their possessions.
The alarmed householder told police the man laughed at them as he calmly left the house carrying a multitude of items before being picked up a short distance away by police.
Alcoholic drug abuser Paul Reilly (42), of Red Admiral Court, was yesterday jailed for eight months by Sheriff Elizabeth Munro at Dundee Sheriff Court after admitting the theft.
She told him: “This is just so serious, both in terms of the high value of the property you stole and, of course, it must have upset the family terribly.
“There was blood all over their home and I can’t think of a worse thing for a family to come home to on Christmas Day.”
Reilly pled guilty to breaking into the property in Forfar Road on December 25 and stealing a clock, telephone, plastic bag containing fittings, a quantity of handles, jewellery, switches, medication, a card, a knife, a bag containing toys, a laptop, a computer system and a bag containing toy wheels.
Depute fiscal Lynne Manion told the court the family had gone out during the afternoon on Christmas Day.
“They returned around 7.45pm and the householder saw the net curtains blowing in the window. On inspection he realised the window had been smashed and thought they had been the victims of vandalism.
“He then went into the kitchen and came face to face with the accused. Another member of the family entered and said ‘What is this man doing in our house?’
“The accused simply said ‘ha ha ha’ and walked out of the kitchen,” she said.
Ms Manion said the family ran outside and the accused came out behind them and walked off into neighbouring streets.
“Police were called and they traced the accused in another street around 200 metres away,” she said.
She told the court Reilly was searched and a number of items were found in his jacket pocket and in his possession.
“He was taken to police headquarters and a card and two shards of glass were found in his pocket. Inspection of the property showed bloodstains in several places.
“A jewellery box had contained several solid gold bracelets, valued at around £2,000,” she said.
Ms Manion added: “Various computer items were left in a manner that suggested they were to be uplifted later.”
Solicitor advocate Jack Brown told the court Reilly, who had struggled up the stairs from the cells to get to the dock, had had years of drug and alcohol abuse and a prolific record of offending going back “many, many years.”
“He suffers from a serious blood disorder and is on medication and he has no recollection whatsoever of these events. His only recall of the day was that he was on his way to or from his ex-partner’s house.”
Mr Brown told the sheriff she would have been surprised Reilly had been able to steal so many items, having seen his demeanour coming into court.
“He is under no illusions that a custodial sentence is inevitable today.”
Sheriff Munro told Reilly he should seek help while in prison and told him she would impose the maximum 12-month sentence, discounted to eight months for his early guilty plea, to allow him to get assistance to deal with his problems.
“You can’t go on like this,” she told him.
The householder declined to comment.
awilson@thecourier.co.uk