A brazen thief who was caught for the second time trying to sell his stolen stuff on social media has been jailed.
Stephen Hutton’s actions were described by his own solicitor as “utterly bizarre” and that he was “almost shouting out to be arrested”.
At Dundee Sheriff Court, Hutton was given a total of 19 months in jail by Sheriff Alastair Carmichael — the second time he has been jailed after being caught flogging stolen goods on the FaceBay Dundee site in less than a year.
The court heard one of his victims saw his stolen garden strimmer being sold by Hutton, so sent him a message arranging to go and pick it up from him.
Fiscal depute Charmaine Gilmartin told the court the crook was then reported to police, who raided his home and found most of the stolen goods.
Hutton, 37, of Yarrow Terrace, pleaded guilty on indictment to four charges of theft committed on April 6, 7 and 8 last year in streets in Menzieshill.
Defence solicitor Theo Finlay said: “He has convictions from 2013 that resulted in a prison sentence. He managed to obtain employment in 2016 but lost that, essentially due to economic reasons, towards the end of that year.
“He quickly found himself in debt and these offences were committed.
“It was utterly bizarre behaviour, he was significantly under the influence of drugs.
Mr Finlay added: “He quite openly advertised the property for sale on Facebook and he was almost shouting out to be arrested.”
Sheriff Carmichael jailed Hutton for 15 months on that offence with a further four months after admitting stealing tools from an unsecured car in Dochart Terrace on January 20 this year.
He also previously admitted breaching his community payback order, which had been imposed after he admitted that on June 15, at Yarrow Terrace, attempting to open the driver side door of a car and attempted to force it open with intent to steal, while on bail.
Last year Hutton was jailed for 200 days for an almost identical offence — after stealing a £250 designer handbag and selling it on Facebay Dundee.
Again, his victim spotted the bag for sale and set up a sting involving her friend buying it back from him for £15, then tipping off police.
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