Brazen thief caught on camera stealing cash from Dundee takeaway shop

A brazen thief was caught on camera smashing the till of a takeaway shop off a wall before nicking £100.

Barry Davies also stole a charity tin from a bingo hall and a PS4 console from a supermarket during a crime spree between October and November last year.

Davies made off with coins and notes from the till, which cost £1,100 to replace, at Zulu’s Piri Piri on Mauchline Avenue.

The thief was caught following a Facebook appeal by the takeaway’s owner.

Dundee Sheriff Court heard how the boss made the discovery that the business was broken into.

Prosecutor Saima Rashid said: “He opened the shop shutter and saw a quantity of glass smashed. A large brick was discovered in the dining area and the till had been forced open.

© DC Thomson

“A review of CCTV saw the accused breaking in at 2.52am. He picks up the till and throws it three times causing it to eventually open. The accused grabs coins and notes to the value of £100.”

The 38-year-old, a prisoner of HMP Perth, pleaded guilty to breaking into Zulu’s Piri Piri
on October 19 and stealing a quantity of money as well as stealing a PS4 from Sainsbury’s on Tom Johnson Road on the same date.

Davies also admitted stealing a charity tin and its contents from Mecca Bingo, Douglas Road, on November 10.

Solicitor Jim Caird said Davies is currently serving a 16 month sentence with a release date of August 28.

He told Sheriff Alastair Carmichael: “At the time he was in a particularly bad way with drugs.

“He suffers from paranoid schizophrenia and that causes him difficulties. There has been various periods on remand where he has stayed out of trouble but he had been struggling since the death of his father in February 2018.

“He is well aware of the seriousness of these matters.”

Sentence was deferred until July 29 for reports to investigate the possibility of a supervised release order.