A festival DJ who stole a £22,000 fishing boat in Fife launched a GoFundMe page hours after being told by a sheriff he needed to get a £10,000 bank loan to compensate the owner.
Martin Dickson, who lives in Glastonbury but is from Scotland, was caught on camera arriving in a Range Rover at Forth Cruising Club to tow away the vessel.
Dunfermline Sheriff Court heard Dickson stole the engine from the boat from Limekilns and left the owner with a bill of about £10,000.
In an interview at the time, the boat owner said his young son discovered the 15ft Montauk Boston Whaler was missing when they arrived one morning to take it out on a fishing trip.
After reporting the incident to police, he was informed later that day the boat had been found in nearby Broomhall Estate but the 116kg, £6,000, engine had been cut free and stolen.
Dickson, 52, appeared in the dock for sentencing after earlier pleading guilty to stealing a boat on June 19 2021.
Brazen theft
Prosecutor Isma Mukhtar told the court the boat’s owner had last seen the vessel on June 15 at around 5.30pm and left it secured.
Another boating community member saw Dickson around lunchtime the next day and a conversation was had about him looking to buy a boat.
The boat owner came back to the locus at around 8.30am on June 19 for a planned fishing trip and his boat was missing.
CCTV showed Dickson reversing the Range Rover near the boat and, with another person, attaching it to the tow bar and driving away.
Invoices sent in by the boat owner for damage costs amounted to about £10,000, the court heard.
No details were given in court about what became of the engine.
Defence lawyer Ian Beatson said Dickson lives in the Glastonbury area in a mobile home but has links to Scotland.
The solicitor said his client advises he was “not thinking clearly” and had been abusing cocaine.
“He is completely bewildered as to why he did it.
“He can not provide any motivation other than stupidity on his part. He very much regrets it”.
The lawyer said Dickson lost his father, who lived in the Fife area, a short time before the offence and his wife also died of cancer about two years ago.
He said Dickson recognises the impact of his theft as he had his own motor home broken into himself about 11 months ago and £20,000 worth of equipment stolen.
Mr Beatson said his client is a DJ at festivals and earns £2,600 per month on average.
Sheriff Susan Duff said she would defer sentence for Dickson to investigate obtaining a £10,000 bank loan to pay compensation.
She rejected a social work report suggestion of unpaid work.
“I am not considering following the recommendation in the report, which is ludicrous when someone has stolen a boat worth £22,000 and left the owner of the boat with a bill of £10,000.”
Sheriff Duff deferred sentence until April 15 and Dickson’s bail was continued meantime.
Fundraising appeal
Hours after his court appearance on Wednesday, Dickson posted a link to a GoFundMe page on his Facebook page asking people to help raise £10,000 – without mentioning the nature of his court appearance.
The accompanying message states “right folks, need some real big help from all the green dnb (drum and bass) party bus lovers”.
He talks about his “journey” with the bus, which is also his home, and describes it as being “probably one of the best buses in the UK for DnB events”.
He says “things are now catching up” with him with “all the unlicenced music events” that have taken place and now the bus is “at risk of being taken away from me”.
Dickson’s post goes on to say the councils are “shutting me down very, very quickly” and the “courts are now starting to take action against me for all the unlicensed music events”.
He says it won’t be long until he is shut down permanently and loses his home.
Dickson goes on to say he has been “in court today” and needs £10,000 or spend time in jail.
He adds: “Please, if ya’ can help put your hands in your pockets and see what you can do”.
At the time of writing, the GoFundMe had raised £190 from 18 donations.
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