Former soldier jailed for whisky and jewellery thefts

An ex-Army sniper who staged a series of high-value jewellery and whisky raids while on the run from an open prison has been jailed for 25 months.

Garry Roughley, 41, stole £76,000 worth of watches and rings in two break-ins nearly a year apart at an antiques centre near Doune, Perthshire.

He also took £25,000 worth of whisky from the Green Welly Stop in Tyndrum.

Roughley is currently serving a six-year sentence for robbing an elderly widow in her Dunfermline home.

A court heard Roughley had been unable to adjust to civilian life after serving in the Army for 10 years.

At the time of the offences he was living "completely beneath the radar" having absconded from HMP Thorn Cross in Cheshire, where he had been serving a sentence for burglary.

Stirling Sheriff Court heard Roughley cut an aperture in the roof of the whisky shop at the Green Welly in 2020.

He was seen on CCTV using an extending litter picker to reach through the hole and take high-price whisky bottles off a top shelf.

The court was told that the previous year, Roughley had used a set of ladders to get up on the roof of the Scottish Antiques and Arts Centre.

CCTV showed him using a crowbar to smash display cabinets before taking watches and jewellery.

He returned to the centre in 2020, and drilled the rear door locks while police, alerted by an alarm from the premises, rushed to the scene.

By the time officers arrived, Roughley had fled with more rings, watches and jewellery.

He was arrested two months later on Tyneside after Northumbria Police received a tip-off.

Sheriff Keith O'Mahony jailed Roughley for a further 25 months to be served consecutive to his sentence for robbing the pensioner.