A gas engineer was caught red-handed stealing copper tanks from houses in Dundee as police investigated break-ins to 21 homes in the same street.
Ross Pettigrew had entered homes and smashed through walls to get his hands on the water tanks, which could be re-sold for £200 each.
Pettigrew and another man – grandfather Charles Forbes – had cut through chains and overcome a security fence to access the empty houses on a street about to undergo a £20 million redevelopment by Hillcrest Housing.
Pettigrew initially faced 21 separate charges relating to break-ins at Ellengowan Drive in Dundee between November 3 and 10 2023.
The 32-year-old, of Strathmartine Road, admitted four of the charges and the Crown accepted not guilty pleas to the rest.
Caught red-handed
Fiscal depute Duncan McKenzie told Dundee Sheriff Court: “These properties had copper boilers behind the walls where the fireplaces had been.
“A weekly security check was carried out and it was noticed that a chain had been cut allowing part of the perimeter fence to be opened. A van was parked adjacent.
“Contractors confirmed that no-one should be in the property and nothing was to be removed.
“Officers could hear banging sounds coming from numbers 33 to 40.
“They observed several properties were insecure, with door panels missing and doors open.
“They saw the accused and another male exiting number 38 through a door panel.
“Both were wearing dust suits and gloves and face masks.
“They were both covered in dust. There was extensive damage to the interior wall, exposing the copper tanks.”
Pettigrew admitted breaking into numbers 39 and 40 and stealing copper tanks, and breaking into numbers 37 and 38 with intent to steal.
Charges relating to break-ins at numbers 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 24, 33, 34, 35 and 36 were dropped by the procurator fiscal.
Forbes was sentenced in July last year to a curfew and unpaid work, having already spent months on remand.
He admitted taking ten tanks.
Drugs charge
Pettigrew admitted a separate charge of breaking into a home in Bonnethill Court on Boxing Day 2023 and stealing drugs.
He was heard rummaging around the property and when police arrived they met him coming down the stairs wearing a balaclava over his face.
He was found with £2,500 worth of cocaine and said: “What can I say? I’ve been caught red-handed.”
Sheriff Alistair Carmichael deferred sentence for background reports and Pettigrew had bail continued.
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