Former Soldier Jailed For Inverness Bookies Raid

A former soldier who stole £13,500 from a bookmakers has been jailed for two and a half years.

Karl Jones,31, stole the cash at the Paddy Power branch in Inverness - the day after the bookies raked in large losing bets from a top English Premier League match.

At the High Court in Edinburgh, judge Lady Rae told Jones that she had no other option but to send him to prison.

She added: "This was a well planned theft involving a significant amount of money. Given the circumstances of this offence, I have to impose a custodial sentence."

Jones, of Liverpool was convicted last month at the High Court in Glasgow of a reduced charge of stealing £13,499, a telephone and keys from the bookmakers.

He originally faced an allegation of assault and robbery - involving the use of a handgun - but those accusations were deleted by the jury who convicted him.

Jones was remanded in custody at the high court and Lady Rae deferred sentence for the court to obtain reports about his character.

At the earlier proceedings, the trial heard how Jones entered the shop last March 30 a minute after it opened - through a staff entrance that had been unlocked.

The court heard how the Paddy Power shop had taken in a number of large bets for Manchester City to beat Arsenal on March 29.

But the match ended 1-1 meaning the bookies avoided big payouts to punters.

As a result, more than £13,000, was in the shop's safe.

Jones then walked into the bookies just after it opened at 9.30am the next morning.

Employee Kyle Fitzgerald was working that day - the court heard he was one of Jones closest friends at the time.

Jones was in the betting shop up to eight hours a day five times a week.

The theft was then carried out before police began the hunt to catch the culprit.

The court was told Jones had got in that day through a staff door that was left unlocked.

Fitzgerald claimed in evidence that he had forgotten to lock it.

Prosecutor Stewart Ronnie asked him: "It maybe suggested to you that you were part of this incident in which your firm lost £13,500. Is there any truth in that?"

The witness replied: "No."

The jury also heard that Fitzgerald told police he was unable to identify Jones and initially claimed the thief spoke with a foreign accent.

Today, it emerged that Jones had a previous conviction for making indecent images of children.

Defence solicitor advocate Jim Wallace told the court that his client regretted committing the crime. He added: "He has expressed remorse and takes full responsibility for his actions."