Reward for information leading to tool thieves

A NEPHEW of former Rangers boss David Murray has put up a reward to help catch thieves who raided a New Town house being renovated by his firm and made off with £4000 of tools.

• David Tait suspects an inside job after his tools were taken from a locked metal box

Ian Murray is offering a "substantial reward" following the break-in at the Heriot Row property where thieves forced open a window to sneak inside.

Sub-contractor David Tait, who was working at the site for Mr Murray's SI Construction (Scotland) Ltd, has been left out of pocket after his tools were stolen.

Mr Tait, who is part of a team revamping the bottom two floors of the townhouse into a four-bedroom flat worth up to 900,000, said he believed the raid may have been an "inside job".

A large number of tradesmen have been involved with the project, and Mr Tait believes someone who knew expensive tools were being kept inside could be behind the theft.

He said: "They came in through a front window below street level, which may have been forced with a crowbar. The tools were stored in a metal box and the two locks were sheared off, probably with a pick axe.

"They took three nail guns, a router, two cordless drills and a large laser spirit level, which was worth 1000 on its own.

"They must've made quite a lot of noise to crowbar the window, but unfortunately no-one seems to have heard anything. The woman who lives upstairs was away for the weekend.

"I think it was an inside job. A lot of tradespeople have been through here. They seemed to know what they were looking for."

Mr Tait, 45, who lives in Silverknowes, added: "I'm working as an independent sub-contractor on the project for SI Construction so they're all my own tools. You can't get insurance for building tools like that so I've been left out of pocket and will have to replace them myself. The police came round last Monday but I haven't heard back from them. There was no CCTV coverage of the area either. Whoever was responsible would've needed a vehicle to move the tools, but no-one seems to have seen anything suspicious.

"Ian Murray has said he'll offer a substantial reward for any information leading to the recovery of the tools, or helping to find those responsible."

Mr Murray, managing director of SI Construction, said: "We're a close team who have been working together for a while on projects in the New Town. This has been a blow to team morale.

"Whoever is responsible has been quite rigorous and organised in the way they have gone about it. The reward is for information, ideally to recover the tools, but at least to catch those are responsible for this."

Work on the renovation project began around a month ago and is set to last until September, with the property expected to fetch between 800,000 and 900,000.

A police spokeswoman said: "An investigation is under way after a quantity of tools were stolen from a property on Heriot Row between 3.30pm on Friday, March 4 and 7.45am on Monday, March 7.

"Police are appealing for anyone who may have any information to get in touch on 0131 311 3131, or through the charity Crimestoppers, in confidence and complete anonymity, on 0800 555 111."