22-year-old jailed for break-in at one Galashiels pharmacy and attempted burglary at another

David Cotton pleaded guilty at Selkirk Sheriff Court to theft by housebreaking at Lloyds Pharmacy in Channel Street during the early hours of Sunday, August 9.

After smashing a plate-glass window to gain entry, he made off with a cash box containing £5 in coins and two cans of deodorant, the court heard.

Police officers called to the scene by a security alarm company followed a trail of coins in Douglas Bridge to retrieve the cash box.

Cotton also admitted attempting to break into the Boots store at the town’s Gala Water Retail Park during the early hours of Saturday, August 1, and smashing a window there too.

Depute fiscal Fiona Hamilton said the police were alerted to the break-in at Lloyds at around 3.35am after an internal alarm was activated.

She said: “They saw that the doors of the pharmacy had been smashed. The bottom section of the door was fully missing.

“The pharmacy said they were not missing any medication but a cash box had been stolen which was recovered by following the trail of coins. There was £5 worth of change in the trail.

“CCTV showed someone trying to gain entry with a sandbag and then smashing the window with a stone.

“He then took the cash box from inside and two cans of deodorant.

“They were able to identify the male as the accused.”

Turning to the attempted break-in at Boots a week earlier, Ms Hamilton said that at 3.47am, a worker at the nearby Tesco store saw a man running across the car park there after hearing a smashing noise.

The accused was arrested soon afterwards, and it was found the main door at Boots had been shattered but no entry gained.

Cotton, formerly of Kelso but now giving an address in Jedburgh, was said by police officers to be in an intoxicated state at the time.

Defence lawyer Ed Hulme said his client had turned to alcohol as he could not get his medication on time, adding that he had been suffering from anxiety and depression as he had been struggling since his last release from prison to impose any structure on his life.

Sheriff Peter Paterson told Cotton society had given him every opportunity to take advantage of a community disposal but he had failed to seize that chance, making a custodial sentence inevitable.

He imposed jail sentences of four months for the attempted raid at Boots and eight months for the housebreaking at Lloyds, to run concurrently.