A man who sold a bag full of brass plaques to a recycling firm after they had gone missing from Dundee Crematorium has been warned he faces jail if he continues offending.
Placing Martin Gaughan on a community payback order for another theft, Sheriff George Way said: “There can be no second second chance. If you steal or commit another offence like that, there will be no other chances.”
Gaughan admitted that on March 2, at Boots in Reform Street, he stole a bottle of aftershave while on bail.
Sheriff Way ordered him to be placed under supervision on a community payback order (CPO) for one year, with 100 hours of unpaid work.
He then deferred sentence on the previous theft of the plaques for three months to assess Gaughan’s progress on the CPO.
Gaughan, 31, of Fairbairn Street, admitted that on August 16 last year he had stolen 16 brass memorial plaques at Paterson Street.
Gaughan said he found the items on a grassy area outside the premises of European Recycling Ltd and had sold them to the recycling firm.
The court was told he had been unaware what the items were as they were taped together. Staff at the firm called the police when they opened the bag and realised where the plaques were from.
Gaughan’s solicitor, George Donnelly, said his client had shared their revulsion when he was told, as the plaques were taped together and he thought he was handing in a “load of brass” he had found.
The value of the items was put at £355 and they were returned to the crematorium.
The accused was traced and admitted they had been in his possession but denied he had stolen them.
Mr Donnelly said: “Mr Gaughan shares the revulsion of the staff at what these items turned out to be.
“He is someone who trawls derelict sites for scrap and he is known to the staff there and had provided photograph identification to them.
“He discovered them in an area of grassland close to the recycling unit. It is maybe not too fanciful to think that someone had stolen them but bottled out of taking them in.”
Sheriff Way said: “Whether it is theft by finding, it’s still an outrageous thing to do.
“If he does not stop offending then the full weight of his lack of informed decision-making will come down on him.”
Sentence was deferred until June 9, when there will be a review of Gaughan’s CPO.