Serial thief stole £10,000 of jewellery and electronics during crime spree

Shabaz Ali pled guilty at Glasgow Sheriff Court to a charge of theft, two attempted housebreakings and a housebreaking with intent to steal.

Serial thief stole £10,000 of jewellery and electronics during crime spreeSNS Group

A serial thief stole £10,000 of jewellery and electronics during a 24-hour crime spree.

Shabaz Ali, 41, broke into a home in Glasgow’s Dumbreck on June 16, 2024.

He made off with a woman’s engagement ring, another ring as well as two pricey laptops.

Ali, of Thornliebank, Renfrewshire, later told police that he sold the two rings to a pawnbroker.

Ali had earlier attempted to break into two other properties and opened a locked shed.

He pled guilty at Glasgow Sheriff Court to a charge of theft, two attempted housebreakings and a housebreaking with intent to steal.

Ali also admitted behaving in a threatening or abusive manner and a breach of bail conditions.

The court heard that the homeowners came home to find a broken washing line on their grass.

The man also noticed that their rear kitchen window and front Victorian glass panel had been smashed.

Prosecutor Hazel Kerr said: “On entering their property, both saw that the diamond engagement ring worth £4,500 was missing as was their leather box of rings.

“There were other items of jewellery worth £3,000.”

They also discovered a laptop worth £1,000 and another worth between £1,000 and £1,200 had been stolen from their study.

Miss Kerr stated: “The collective figure for the items stolen was £10,000.”

Blood was found on the kitchen window ledge and door panel, which were later swabbed by forensics.

Ali’s DNA was linked to the findings, and he was later arrested.

Miss Kerr told the court that the engagement ring and another ring were recovered from a Ramsdens pawnbrokers after Ali made police aware.

The hearing was told that earlier in the day, Ali forced open a shed in a back garden in Pollokshields but did not take anything.

He also tried to break into a woman’s property in the same area after he smashed a window.

Ali went on to smash a front door in a neighbouring property to the shed offence.

Ali was granted bail on June 24 with conditions not to be in a road in the city’s Shawlands which he breached the following day.

When he was picked up by police, he told officers: “That’s f***ing guy is a dead man, he will be six foot under when I f***ing get him.”

He also told an officer that he had HIV and he was going to spit in his “f***ing face.”

It was revealed that Ali’s offending goes back to 2001 when he was convicted for burglary and theft for the first time.

Sentence was deferred pending background reports until next month by Sheriff Louise Arrol KC.

She said: “This is a significant course of conduct that is disgraceful against the background of a shocking criminal record.”

Ali’s remand in custody was continued meantime.

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