Wedding band of Beauly widow's husband and children's Playstation stolen by thief while decorating the house, Inverness Sheriff Court hears
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A THIEF who stole a late husband's wedding band while decorating the widow's house in Beauly has avoided a jail sentence.
But Inverness Sheriff Court was told on Thursday that 43-year-old Shaun Mackenzie of Academy Street, Inverness, had tried to get the gold ring back "from bad people he owed money to."
Mackenzie made the confession to police after learning what he had done, but the ring has never been recovered.
The piece of jewellery had an actual value of £400 but Sheriff Gary Aitken heard the ring was more important than the money.
He said: "No compensation order would make up for the loss of a ring with such sentimental value."
Having read a background report, he decided to place Mackenzie on a community payback order with 12 months supervision as an alternative to custody.
The Sheriff added: "Hopefully drug and alcohol treatment will help prevent this happening to someone else."
The court had been told that Mackenzie had been asked to help out decorating the woman's home in Beauly on October 30, 2018.
Mackenzie also stole the woman's children's Playstation.
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