Black Watch medal thief is sent to jail

May 1 2009 by Les Stewart, Perthshire Advertiser Friday

A RECOVERING heroin addict stole military memorabilia worth hundreds of pounds from The Black Watch Museum in Perth – just days before the regiment flew out to war-torn Afghanistan.

Twenty-seven-year-old Alan Brown, of Glover Street, also made off with over £100 after carrying out two sneak-in thefts at nearby Bell’s Sports Centre the same day.

The incidents, branded “squalid” by Sheriff Robert McCreadie, earned Brown a six-month jail sentence at Perth Sheriff Court on Wednesday.

The court was told that the museum, in Balhousie Castle, is currently undergoing renovations and although it is still open to the public, parts of it are off-limits.

On Friday, March 13, an employee took a Crimean War Medal, an Indian Mutiny Medal and two Indian coins from a display cabinet and put them in one of the rooms out of bounds to the public.

On March 25, however, Brown was spotted in an office and was asked to leave as it was a restricted area.

After he left it was discovered that the medals and coins, worth £700, were missing.

CCTV footage was viewed and the accused was seen opening drawers in the room.

When challenged by police, he came clean and told them the medals were at his flat.

He took them to his home where he handed over a pair of socks containing the missing items.

Brown admitted stealing them from the Hay Street museum on March 25.

He also pled guilty to stealing a total of £110 in cash from a changing room at the sports centre.

Of that amount, £80 belonged to a 15-year-old who had been changing at the centre.

Solicitor Linda Clark said that the accused had managed to get his drug habit under control and had been on a methadone reduction programme.

He stopped it of his own accord but it was “too much too soon.”

He wasn’t coping, didn’t want to tell his drug counsellor and “stupidly” took valium that day before committing the thefts.

He is currently undertaking a horticultural course at Perth College, is holding down a part-time job and had his first-ever tenancy in Glover Street.

He had managed to stay out of trouble for two years and “couldn’t believe” he had landed himself back in court.

Imposing the jail term, Sheriff McCreadie noted that Brown had “an appalling record” for dishonesty.