Victims of housebreaking who lost jewellery worth £70,000 in a robbery were left stunned when they walked into a gem shop and found the owner wearing one of their stolen rings.
Two Fife men – Mark McGrorty and Brian Richardson – are now facing jail after they admitted to selling stolen items from a housebreaking on a £2million property.
A safe at Lochiehead House in Auchtermuchty was cracked and the contents plundered between July 25 and 28 in 2014.
Five months later, an Edinburgh jeweller contacted police after questioning whether precious items he had recently bought may have been stolen.
It emerged Richardson had walked into the Joseph Bonnar Jeweller’s store in Edinburgh’s Thistle Street and sold a pair of opal earrings, a necklace and two aquamarine earrings for a total of £1,400.
He did so in full view of CCTV and even provided his full name and address to the shop’s proprietor.
Police told the victims various items had been recovered and they decided to visit other jewellers’ shops to see if they could find any more stolen goods.
Fiscal depute Eilidh Robertson told Dundee Sheriff Court that they then went to James Ness and Sons in the capital’s Queensferry Street.
She said: “They told staff about the break-in and described the items and staff immediately went quiet.
“The proprietor then entered wearing one of the rings that was missing.
“He denied having any of the stolen goods but the owners saw a pair of earrings in a cabinet that they believed were theirs.
“Police were able to obtain the items.
“On August 27, 2014, accused McGrorty had attended and was paid £4,000 via bank transfer for a yellow diamond ring.
“In total, the items taken were valued at as much as £70,000 for insurance purposes. There is a high value of jewellery still outstanding as a result of this.
“The Crown calls on the accused to disclose where they are or who is responsible for the break-in for further investigation.”
McGrorty, 38, pled guilty to a charge of resetting a quantity of jewellery that had been dishonestly appropriated by theft.
Richardson, 27, pled guilty to resetting jewellery at two jewellery shops in Edinburgh on December 10 and 12, 2014.
McGrorty had faced a further charge of being responsible for the break-in and theft of the items from the house, but instead admitted the charge of resetting the stolen goods.
The court heard that two other men, both currently serving lengthy jail sentences for robberies committed in January last year, had been incriminated in the crime.
Christopher Sneddon, defending, said: “The retail value of the items Mr Richardson reset was approximately three times what he received for them.”
Sheriff Alistair Carmichael deferred sentence until next month for social work background reports and released the pair on bail.
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