A drug addict used a power tool to chop up benches at a Perth football park.
Career criminal Thomas Devers told police he needed to keep a fire going, “otherwise he would die”.
The 40-year-old serial offender was caught on CCTV hacking into wooden benches at Seven Acres Park, home to Letham Football Club.
He appeared at the city’s sheriff court and admitted two charges of vandalism at the Newhouse Road site on September 17 last year.
The court heard he caused hundreds of pounds worth of damage.
Devers, who has received more than 23 prison sentences throughout his extensive criminal career, will be sentenced next month – once he has completed his current jail term.
Caught on camera
Fiscal depute Stuart Duncan, prosecuting, said: “At about 6.50am, police were called to attend at the park.
“There were concerns about the accused who had been seen lying on the ground next to a small fire.”
Officers told Devers he would be reported to the procurator fiscal.
Mr Duncan said: “However, later that morning police received another call about damage to a bench at the locus.
“They viewed CCTV and saw the accused using a power tool to cut into benches.
“The power tool was recovered from a bush nearby.”
The fiscal depute said it cost about £1,700 to replace and install the benches.
Drinking in the park
When cautioned and charged, Devers told police: “I had no way to get home, so I had a fire to keep me warm. If I didn’t I would have died.”
Solicitor John McLaughlin, defending, said: “He had been at the park, drinking with some people.
“Someone set a small fire in the park area.
“The only thing Mr Devers can think of, was that he had been cutting the benches to fuel the fire.
“He knows that this was an unacceptable way to behave.
“At the time, he had a problem with drugs and alcohol.”
The court heard Devers, of Sauchie Place, Crieff, had successfully reduced his methadone intake.
Sheriff Jennifer Bain KC deferred sentence for background reports.
Devers was jailed in February after he ransacked a parked car in the middle of the night, then alerted a neighbour to the damage he caused.
His own lawyer described his actions as “bizarre”.
For more local court content visit our page or join us on Facebook.
