Dundee thief caught selling stolen goods on Facebook

A thief who tried to flog his stolen loot on Facebook - only to be caught when he tried to sell the goods through a page his victim was a member of was today jailed.

Steven Hutton was sentenced to 19 months in prison. Pic: Kingdom News Agency/John Devlin

Steven Hutton was handed a 19 month prison sentence after being caught selling stolen good on the FaceBay Dundee site in less than a year.

Dundee Sheriff Court was told that Hutton stole items from cars parked in streets around his home in the Menzieshill area in Dundee - then tried to sell some of them on the social networking site.

One of his victims saw his stolen garden strimmer being sold by Hutton - and sent him a message arranging to go and pick it up from him.

Hutton’s lawyer said he was “almost shouting out to be arrested”.

Fiscal depute Charmaine Gilmartin told the court the crook was then reported to police, who raided his home and found most of the stolen goods.

She said: “This was a course of conduct where he has entered motor vehicles and stolen items.

“Police received information he was selling stolen property.

“When he was detained he told police he had done it because he needed the money.”

Hutton, 37, of Yarrow Terrace, Dundee, pleaded guilty on indictment to four charges of theft committed on April 6, 7 and 8 last year in streets in the Menzieshill district of Dundee.

He further admitted charges of breaching bail and theft.

Defence solicitor Theo Finlay said: “He quite openly advertised the property taken on social media.

“It was almost as if he was shouting out to be arrested.

“There’s a slightly bizarre nature to the circumstances.

“He has a formidable, lengthy and persistent record of previous offending.”

Sheriff Alastair Carmichael jailed Hutton for a total of 19 months.

He said: “I don’t see any alternative to a custodial sentence here.”

Last year Hutton was jailed for 200 days for an almost identical offence - after stealing a POUNDS 250 designer handbag and selling it on the FaceBay Dundee site.

Again, his victim spotted the bag for sale and set up a sting involving her friend buying it back from him for POUNDS 15, then tipping off police.

Sentencing him in that case a sheriff told Hutton he had a “shocking record for dishonesty”.