Break-in boozer of Badenoch was caught on CCTV

A grieving unemployed chef had drank too much before going for a walk and then sought shelter by breaking into a Newtonmore hotel bar.

Inverness Sheriff Court heard that 34 year old Duncan McLaren sat drinking alone in the Balavil Hotel, consumed alcohol and some food and then left to break into a holiday home afterwards.

McLaren, formerly from Pitlochry but now staying at Raeburn Park, Perth had learned previously that his best friend and fiancee's brother had committed suicide and he started drinking heavily.

The court was told that he broke a window to enter the Hotel and then smashed another window at The Signal Box near the village’s railway station on April 21, last year.

Fiscal depute Karen Poke told Sheriff Gary Aitken at an earlier hearing: “At 3.40am on April 21, 2024 the accused was captured on CCTV approaching the Balavil Hotel which was locked up with metal bars around the bar area.

"The accused was captured walking up to the hotel where he managed to break the top window, reached inside and unlocked the window and opened it.

“He approached the bar and tried a number of doors before breaking the left side shutter to roll up. He climbed over the bar and was seen on CCTV using his light on his phone and climbed off with bottles and a glass and turned the lights on and off. He then sat down in the bar area for two hours and left at around 4.12am.

“He stole £63.99 of alcohol and soft drinks and caused damage of £2500 to the window and shutter." Ms Poke said.

The prosecutor explained that the owners of The Signal Box realised their premises had been broken into when they were unable to gain access to it and saw a smashed window with traces of blood on it and two cans of coke on the coffee table.The total cost of damage was £800.”

The accused was later traced on April 22.

Ms Poke said:“He stated that on the night in question, he and his girlfriend had an argument and he was looking for somewhere to sleep.”

McLaren pleaded guilty to breaking and entering, theft and maliciously smashing a window and had sentence deferred for a background report.

He re-appeared before Interim Sheriff Principal Eilidh Macdonald and McLaren’s solicitor Rory Gowans told the judge: “His best friend and the brother of his fiancee had just committed suicide and they were both very upset.

"He drank to excess, went for a walk, wandered into a rural area and then sought shelter. He has been pretty much abstinent since then. "

Sheriff Macdonald declined to jail McLaren but ordered him to carry out 165 hours of unpaid community work and remain under social work supervision for two years.

She told him: "This was very bad behaviour on your part, causing significant damage to the property of people who didn;t deserve it."