Wick jury told of £13k cash theft
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ALMOST £13,000 was stolen in three raids on premises in Caithness and North Sutherland, a jury at Wick Sheriff Court heard this week.
The money was taken from post offices and a bus depot along with stock valued at more than £2500.
The incidents were part of a series of raids which were carried out across the North over a three-month period from July 27 to October 12, 2007.
John Hind (54), from Colne in Lancashire, and Matthew Peters (40), from Bournemouth, deny a total of 18 charges which include break-ins at eight post offices. The pair also pleaded not guilty to stealing £34,497.60 in cash and £10,508.97 in stock as well as five safes.
Hind and Peters further deny an attempted break-in at Dunbeath post office, breaking into Lochinver post office with intent to steal and taking £5587.21 from Archiestown post office.
The accused, who are on indictment, also deny breaking into Rapson’s Coaches in Thurso, McConechy’s in Wick and other premises in Lairg and Achiltibuie.
In addition, they also deny stealing a car and using it to assault Fort William policeman Andrew Cooper to the danger of his life. It is alleged the car was driven at the constable while he was signalling them to stop on the A830 Fort William to Mallaig road, near Drumsallie, causing him to take evasive action to prevent being struck. Hinds denies withholding from police details of who was driving the car.
On Wednesday, during the second day of the trial, the jury of eight men and seven women heard from Spittal postmistress Jean Watt about a break-in at her premises on August 7, 2007.
She said entry had been gained by a boarded-up window at the post office which adjoins her house. The safe, which contained about £3000 in money and stamps, postal orders and Hydro-Electric cards valued at over £600, had been taken.
“A long time later the safe was found in a quarry near Spittal,” said the woman, who pointed out she never got the money or stock back.
She told senior fiscal depute David Barclay part of the boarding on the window was removed, glass broken and plasterboard damaged in the break-in. It cost around £50 to repair.
Asked by Mr Barclay if the break-in had affected the running of her business, she replied: “The post office was closed for a week before I got it up and running again.”
Cross-examined by QC Alan Macleod, who represents Peters, she agreed she could not help the court regarding the identity of those responsible for the break-in.
“I did not see or hear anything,” she said.
“You are not able to say if one person, two people, three, four, five or 10 people were responsible,” he stated.
“I don’t think one person would have been able to lift the safe. It was quite heavy,” she replied.
Thomas Mackay, postmaster and shopkeeper at Talmine in North Sutherland, discovered a break-in at his premises on the morning of August 27, 2007.
The front door was damaged and the safe, with about £6000 in cash and just over £2000 in stock, was missing. He paid about £100 to repair the damage to the door and said the incident affected the running of his business during that day.
Earlier, Veda Swanson, the Stagecoach depot manager at Thurso, told the court the company’s premises in Lovers’ Lane – previously Rapson’s Coaches – had been broken into on August 4, 2007.
A door on a portable cabin had been burst open while a door leading into the drivers’ area had been kicked in. The office safe was taken from the wall, the back cut open and two days’ takings amounting to £3524.35 removed. Money from a petty cash box was also stolen.
Ms Swanson said it cost over £3000 to repair the damage caused by the break-in.
A total of 118 witnesses from throughout the UK have been cited for the trial, which is in line to be one of the longest ever conducted at the Wick courthouse.
Proceedings before Sheriff Andrew Berry are expected to last between four and six weeks.
