A prolific thief stole cars, motorbikes and £25,000 of other high-value items during a spate of raids across Perthshire.
Between 2022 and 2023, Andrew Miller targeted properties in Murthly, Perth, Inchture and Pitlochry.
In the former landscape gardener’s haul were five motocross bikes, three cars, cash, clothing and jewellery.
He was caught after he left a lighter at one scene and at another, a skin print on a window.
Since committing the thefts Miller, 24, from Midlothian, has received prison sentences for offending across Scotland.
Bike heist
Prosecutor Joanne Ritchie explained to Dundee Sheriff Court the first property Miller hit, in May 2022, was a wooden shed in a rural area near Murthly.
Hours before it was raided, the owner had been carrying out bike repairs with his son.
When he woke at 6.45am, he discovered a Yamaha bike worth £13,000 was gone, as well as four other motocross bikes worth £4,500, £4,000, £4,000 and £2,500.
A £300 helmet and an exhaust box worth £400 were also taken.
Miller was identified as the thief when a discarded lighter with his DNA on it was found outside the shed.
Nothing was recovered.
More vehicle thefts
Miller next struck in October 2022 at a property in Perth’s Kinnoull area.
The owners of a home in Corsie Avenue woke to find their back door open and two private-plated Audis – a Q3 and an S4 – missing from the drive.
One was recovered just 400 metres away, abandoned, with the engine running.
The other was traced through an onboard tracker at a garage in Loanhead, Midlothian.
Miller’s next car theft was from a home in Orchard Way in Inchture on January 11 2023, where he broke in and stole the resident’s VW Golf.
He was spotted making off just before 2am by a neighbour.
Car seats were jettisoned near Grange, Errol, and the car was traced a week later in the Highlands, sporting cloned number plates.
Police followed the Golf from Glencoe ski centre but were not authorised to pursue it.
The vehicle was later spotted at the car park at the Three Sisters mountain range and officers saw Miller and his partner sprinting away from them, 100 metres into the countryside.
Holiday ruined
Miller’s final victims were a couple on holiday from their cottage on the edge of Pitlochry in February 2023.
They were alerted by their gardener, who found the door open and their home ransacked.
Miller had been through every room, stealing £2,000 in cash from a dressing table and expensive clothes and jewellery.
He was identified by police through a skin print left on a window where he had pressed his face against the glass to peer in.
His haul, worth £24,600, remains untraced.
Finding prison ‘extremely difficult’
Miller’s solicitor Calum Turner said his client is currently serving custodial sentences totalling 64 months.
“Some of this was committed alone, while some were committed whilst acting with others.
“He accepts full responsibility for his actions.”
He said his client had “experienced a significant downturn in his mental health” at the time and was “struggling” in a relationship.
“He has been in custody since July 2023. He’s found that extremely difficult. He has required to spend time in isolation.
“He’s a young man who experienced what might be described as a traumatic childhood.
“He’s clearly demonstrated poor decision-making.”
Guilt admitted
Miller, of James Lean Avenue in Dalkeith, was brought from prison to court to plead guilty to four thefts by housebreaking, some while on bail.
Sheriff Alastair Carmichael jailed him for 21 months.
The sentence will run concurrently to Miller’s ongoing term.
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