A drunken Fife thief fled when the owner of the car he was breaking into began photographing him.
Mark Higgins, of Tiree Place in Kirkcaldy, had broken into a secured vehicle parked in a drive in the town’s Lismore Avenue on May 3.
Higgins, 54, had been drinking alcohol before he attempted to break into the car at 12.58am on Monday morning.
The vehicle’s owner had parked and locked the vehicle at around 8.30 on Sunday night.
He was woken by a scratching sound coming from his drive in the early hours of the morning.
Moving to the window, he spotted Higgins had opened the rear driver’s side door and one of the vehicle’s windows had been smashed.
Covered in glass but denied crime
Being photographed in action from the bedroom window, the camera’s flash disturbed Higgins and he made off from the scene.
When he was traced, he was found by police to be in possession of a pair of scissors stolen from the vehicle and had shards of broken glass on his person.
However, he told the officers: “I didn’t break any window.”
Higgins appeared from custody at Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court on Monday, where he pled guilty to forcing open a lockfast motor vehicle and stealing a pair of scissors.
He was on bail at the time.
Sheriff Pino Di Emidio released Higgins on bail, with a curfew of 7pm to 7am and set a sentencing date of May 31 to allow reports to be drawn up.
