Inside job tyre thief is jailed

Nov 9 2012 by Colin Rutherford, Kilmarnock Standard

A man who stole £22,000 worth of tyres from the company he worked for in a “meticulously planned” theft was this week jailed for seven months.

Craig Jack, 24, of Grampian Road, Kilmarnock, previously pleaded guilty to breaking in and stealing the tyres while employed by Strathclyde Tyres in the town’s East Shaw Street in April.

Kilmarnock Sheriff Court heard earlier that the carefully planned theft took place over a holiday weekend.

Scott Toal, prosecuting, said that the businesses had security systems and CCTV in operation.

When the premises were opened in the morning it was found that a large quantity of tyres had been taken.

Mr Toal said that the raid had been well-planned. The security system had been deactivated, cameras covered with spray paint, the hard drive for the CCTV had been removed and the power cables to the security system had also been damaged.

Jack was implicated when it was found that the alarms had been deactivated using a code which could be traced to him.

Said Mr Toal: “The system had been de-activated on two separate occasions over that weekend.”

The GPS system in the works cab used by Jack was examined and it was discovered that it had been tampered with shortly before the tyre fitters business was broken into.

When Jack was questioned by police, he became upset and told officers that he had got into debt.

He also admitted disposing of the CCTV recording system.

Paul Gallagher, defending, told the court on Monday that his client recognised the seriousness of the offence and the likelihood of a custodial sentence being imposed.

He pointed out that Jack had pleaded guilty at the first opportunity and, before that, had fully co-operated with police.

He said that, at the time of the offence, Jack had a number of difficulties in his life.

His relationship with his partner was in trouble and he had not spoken to his immediate family for around a year.

Jack had also run up thousands of pounds worth of debt and was considering bankruptcy.

“This was not the way to deal with it,” said Mr Gallagher. “However that was his thought process.”

He asked Sheriff Iona McDonald to consider imposing a community payback order with hours of unpaid work.

“Clearly this would be a direct alternative to a custodial sentence,” said Mr Gallagher.

But Sheriff McDonald told Jack: “The only appropriate sentence is a custodial sentence.”

She pointed to the value of the stolen property and the fact that he was an employee in a position of trust.

“The theft was also well-planned,” said the sheriff.