An antiques dealer who stole nearly quarter of a million pounds of rarities during a heist on a competitor’s shop has been jailed.
Thomas Reid targeted Malcom’s Antiques in Guardbridge, stealing unique and handmade jewellery, which he then sold on eBay from a warehouse in Dundee.
The 48-year-old ran a business as a self-employed antiques dealer and carried out the raid with “professionalism”, the court was told.
He masked his face, put on gloves, a camouflage jacket and a head-torch and forced his way into the premises with a crowbar, before breaking into glass cabinets on July 28.
Reid, who served 10 years in prison for attempted murder in 2008 and has previous convictions for robbery, was caught after police found his haul at a storage unit in Dundee’s Dryburgh Industrial Estate.
Some of the jewellery had been melted down with a view to be sent away to have the gold valued and around £8,000 worth of items were never found.
Dundee Sheriff Court heard since his crime, Reid has been served divorce papers by his wife.
His defence solicitor, Mike Short, said: “He has lost his family and his business.
“He was quite adamant that his historical behaviour was historical, but he as a businessman was dealing with both good and bad times, and he went back to his old lifestyle.
“He accepts that he went back to his old ways.”
Reid’s crime was discovered by shop staff beginning their morning shift, who saw the metal door of the jeweller’s had been forced off its hinges.
CCTV showed Reid opening the cabinets and stashing rings watches and earrings into a rucksack.
Police linked a silver car, which had been in the area in the early hours of that morning, to Reid, who was its registered owner.
He was seen on CCTV at a petrol station on the A90 wearing the same clothes he had on during the raid.
Police searched his home and found a crowbar, a screwdriver, a head torch and jewellery the shop owner recognised as belonging to her.
Sheriff Alastair Carmichael sentenced Reid, whose address was given in court as HMP Perth, to three years imprisonment.
He said: “I’m going to impose a custodial sentence – I think you know that’s inevitable.
“There is a high value of goods taken and there was an element of professionalism with which you have done it.”
