Fife man stole £2000 of goods from Amazon - some he put down his trousers

Derek Merrilees, of Gilfillan Road, Dunfermline appeared before Sheriff Jamie Gilchrist at Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court.

Merrilees, 41, admitted that on July 5, 2020 at Amazon Warehouse, Amazon Way, Dunfermline he stole a camera, three camera lenses, a camera battery charger and a camera lens case, worth a total of £2028. He further admitted committing the offence while on bail.

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The Procurator Fiscal Depute told the court: “The accused was employed at Amazon and working in Dunfermline packaging high value stock.

"CCTV had not been installed in the area but there were security cameras.

"An Amazon operations manager had noticed high value stock had gone missing. The accused was seen on the security cameras taking boxes of products from the shelves and putting the products down the front of his trousers and putting the empty boxes back.

"The accused was questioned about this and said: “I’m not a thief”. Police were contacted and the accused himself dialled 999 to speak to police officers and told them: “If I don’t not get out of this room I am going to kill somebody”.

She said the value of the goods was £2028.

Merrilees’ defence lawyer said his client was employed as an agency worker: “He relapsed into drug misuse at this time and he offers this as an explanation as to why he acted in the way he did. He lost his job as a result of this.”

Sentence was deferred until April 8 when the case will call in Dunfermline Sheriff Court.

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