A dozy crook who took a nap and updated his Facebook page while he was carrying out an eight-hour robbery in a Tayside restaurant was jailed for two years yesterday.
Gary Tardito, 39, crawled on the floor commando-style and drank liquers as he stole cash and alcohol from The Giddy Goose on Perth Road.
He went in and out of the Dundee restaurant three times during the night and stole goods worth £3,320 and a further £3,807 in cash.
It was only after several hours of brazenly robbing the premises that Tardito realised every move was being captured on CCTV.
He then began crawling around with a mask on his face and wiped various surfaces with alcohol in a hapless attempt to cover his tracks, still being recorded on CCTV.
Tardito sampled beer, amaretto, sambuca and creme de cassis during the break-in and managed to take away 72 bottles of alcohol.
At around 2.20am Tardito took time out from looting to update his profile picture on Facebook while he was in the restaurant.
He was quickly identified by police from the captured footage but by the time they had caught up with him he had polished off 18 of the bottles.
He told officers: “The drink’s in the cupboard. I spent the cash. I’ve got a raging drug habit. I’m sorry.”
Depute fiscal Eilidh Robertson said: “The CCTV inside and out was of excellent quality. He entered through sliding patio doors, through a marquee.
“He remained within the property for 45 minutes before leaving and returning two hours later. He was in for a further hour and 20 minutes, only to then leave and return again.
“He was in for a total of two hours and 10 minutes over a period of eight and a half hours. CCTV captured him stealing items from all over the premises.
“He was crawling on the floor while wearing gloves and was stopping to drink alcohol from the bar.
“He was pouring it on surfaces and on to his gloves to wipe down surfaces he had touched with his bare hands.
“He spotted the CCTV cameras at one point and was trying to cover his head to hide. Around £650 of the stolen cash was staff tips.
“He admitted committing the crime to fund his drug addiction. He said he had no recollection of committing the offence.”
Tardito, of Fairbairn Street, Dundee, admitted breaking into the Giddy Goose restaurant and stealing cash, alcohol, a laptop and four bottle stoppers on February 23-24.
He also admitted pouring alcohol on gloves and various items he touched during the commission of the offence in a bid to negate forensic evidence, and evade detection and arrest, in an attempt to defeat the ends of justice.
After discovering the robbery and viewing the CCTV, restaurant owner, Calum Runciman said: “If it wasn’t so sickening it would be funny.
“What he did was unbelievable. It’s hard to believe he could be so stupid.
“For the first four hours he had no idea he was being caught on CCTV. Then when it did eventually click with him he carried on regardless.
“He then went to great lengths to cover his face, even crawling along the ground commando-style to try to avoid showing his face on camera.
“During his eight hours in the restaurant he decided to make the most of what was there. At one point he sat at a table and enjoyed a beer.”
“After his tipple he then proceeded to take a 45 minute nap – and all the while the CCTV was rolling.”