Jail for Arbroath man who duped pensioners into paying ‘window cleaning’ cash

A 25-year-old Arbroath man who duped vulnerable older people out of cash by collecting window cleaning money has been jailed for four months.

Sheriff Gregor Murray at Arbroath told Kenneth Tough it was a despicable crime and he had no alternative but to send him to custody.

Tough, of Burnett Drive, admitted obtaining £68.95 by fraud on August 4 at a sheltered housing complex on Cliffburn Road, from two men aged 76 and 60 and two women aged 84 and 85, by pretending to be a window cleaner and pretending he was collecting money for window cleaning services.

He also admitted stealing £20 from the complex and a coin counter.

Solicitor Billy Rennie said his client had worked as a window cleaner before being sacked due to an increasing drug dependency.

He said Tough was owed £70 when he was fired but was not paid by his boss.

Collecting the cash was more a way of getting back at his employer rather than his victims, Mr Rennie told the court.

Sheriff Murray said he would sentence Tough to four months in jail due to the “gravity” of the offence.