A thief who broke into a top Tayside restaurant to steal wine was caught after leaving his fingerprints on a newly-varnished bar surface.
Hapless Daniel Sweeney also left a trail of footprints inside former Scottish Restaurant of the Year, Number 63 in Perth.
Depute fiscal Christina Kelly said: “This is a restaurant with four windows looking out on to Tay Street. A witness observed the accused at 3.40am before he went out of sight.
“A short time later she heard an alarm and witnessed the accused running past her window carrying what appeared to be three bottles.
“The police were contacted. There were fingerprints on top of the window pane. There was a footprint on the window sill under the open window and fingerprints on a freshly varnished bar area.
“His shoes were seized and described as a good match for the print.
“There was a partially consumed bottle of wine found near the rail bridge and it was identified as belonging to the restaurant.”
Sheriff James Macdonald said: “This is far from a trivial matter.”
Sweeney, 24, of Culliven Court, Perth, admitted stealing a bottle of wine and two bottles of beer on June 23.
