By Emma Christie
The Aberdeen Press and Journal
ABERDEEN, Scotland — A teenager who dressed in a stolen firefighter’s uniform and tried to steal a fire engine was locked up for 17 months yesterday at Elgin Sheriff Court.
James Stephen, whose address was given in court papers as Cluny Annexe, Room 23, Cluny Square, Buckie, also admitted a string of other offences committed since November 2007, including stealing a gritter lorry.
Some were committed while he was on bail.
Sheriff Gordon Fleetwood said he had no option but to lock up the 19-year-old for his “catalogue of crime” in recent years.
Fiscal depute Shona Duncan said a man living close to Buckie fire station had heard a siren at around 11:30 p.m. on April 6.
When he stepped outside the siren stopped.
A short time later he heard it again and noticed one of the roller doors at the station was open.
The man then went to the station and Stephen approached him.
“He told him he was a new recruit and wanted to know how to start a fire engine. He was wearing a pair of firefighter’s leggings and boots, and the witness could also smell exhaust fumes,” she said.
The man noticed a window was broken at the station and that there was blood on the floor, on the door handle of a fire engine and on a firefighter’s jacket.
Police were called and Stephen was detained.
Ms Duncan also described an incident on December 4 last year where Stephen stole a gritter lorry from a Moray Council depot at Ashgrove Road, Elgin.
He was already disqualified from driving and had no insurance.
The teenager then crashed the gritter into a car at Glen Moray Drive, Elgin, and failed to report the accident.
Defence agent David Adam described some of his client’s actions as “bizarre” and said his motive was not clear.
He referred to a psychiatric report and said Stephen was “as much a danger to himself as he is to other people”.
Mr Adam said Stephen had emotional issues stemming from his upbringing.
But Sheriff Fleetwood said enough was enough.
He said: “It’s quite clear that over the last couple of years sheriffs at Elgin have done their level best to avoid sentencing you to detention.”
The sheriff said Stephen had shown “utter contempt” for their efforts and the only remaining option was a significant period of detention.
He sentenced Stephen to 17 months in a young offenders’ institution.
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