A shop raider caught on CCTV – again – breaking into a Perthshire business has been given a chance to avoid jail.
William Gillilan smashed his way into the Spar in Stanley, near Perth, and made off a £700 haul of cigarettes.
The desperate gamble came a year after the 45-year-old was jailed for breaking into Willows coffee shop in Perth city centre.
On that occasion, he was filmed on CCTV creeping along the floor, before leaving through a broken window with the till, tearing open his leg in the process and later collapsing.
Shop raid
Gillilan appeared at Perth Sheriff Court last week and admitted breaking into the convenience store at Percy Street, Stanley, in the early hours of September 2 2022.
He snatched 70 packets of cigarettes but was traced thanks to in-store CCTV.
Fiscal depute Erika Watson said the manager of the Spar was informed just after 4am the business alarm had been triggered.
She said: “Officers observed a glass panel had been smashed and the shop was filled with smoke.”
The court heard police went to his address and found him wearing the same clothes he had on at the shop and £719 worth of cigarettes in a bag.
Solicitor David Holmes, defending, said his client, of Store Street, Stanley, had suffered recent health problems.
“He has had a stroke and a stent on his heart. He is very lucky to be with us at all.”
Sheriff William Wood placed Gillilan on a two-year Drug Testing and Treatment Order and warned him: “You know if this doesn’t work, then jail awaits.”
Coffee shop raid
Two years ago, Gillilan was given a 19-month jail term for his raid on Willows.
The hapless thief, fuelled by 20 Valium taken in the run-up to his break-in, smashed the glass with a paving stone and crept in, unaware CCTV was filming his every move.
He grabbed the till and tried to leave through the broken window but cut his leg on the jagged glass.
He was found lying nearby in a pool of blood, with the stolen till.
Police were called and followed the blood trail back to Willows.
The court heard he was already on licence from prison at the time.
The sentencing sheriff told him: “It is perhaps fortunate for you that you did not injure your leg more seriously and bleed to death.
Gillilan, then of Skinnergate, Perth, admitted breaking into Willows on December 16 2020 and stealing the till and £150.
He also admitted using a screwdriver to break a car window with intent to rob it on the same day and breaking into a works van and stealing £700 worth of gear the day before.
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