An armed robber from Angus has been jailed for breaking into a flat in Arbroath three weeks before he carried out a knifepoint raid at a Co-op.
Ben Kelbie raided a home in Arbroath shortly before his acquisitive offending escalated significantly.
Kelbie, of Bloomfield Gardens, appeared at Forfar Sheriff Court by videolink from prison to admit breaking into the flat in the town’s Glenesk Place on February 2 last year, 25 days before his shop raid.
He pled guilty to stealing a games console and cash from inside the property.
On February 27 that year, Kelbie went on to hold staff at the Co-op in Banchory, Aberdeenshire, at knifepoint, stating he would not hesitate to hurt them.
He was fuelled by vodka, cocaine and Valium when he walked into the store wielding a large kitchen knife and bullied the teenage staff into co-operating with his raid.
He made off with £250 from the till and said he felt “invincible” at the time.
For that offence, 25-year-old Kelbie was sentenced to four-and-a-half years imprisonment and will be subject to a supervised release order when he is liberated.
In connection with the latest offence for which he appeared in court, the Angus break-in, solicitor Nick Markowski said his client had a crack cocaine problem at the time.
“He’s doing well in the prison estate,” the lawyer said.
“He’s hoping to move to open conditions next year.
“The complainer is somebody who was known to him.”
Sheriff Jillian Martin-Brown commended Kelbie’s progress in jail and imposed a two month concurrent sentence.
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