A MORAY MAN who had already been jailed for six months following a string of thefts involving racing pigeons has landed back in court on further charges.
Dean Wells received his sentence in August at Elgin Sheriff Court after he admitted stealing pigeons worth £17,000. That offence came just months after he had been caught smuggling budgies in his pockets that belonged to an uncle.
Wells, 22, had broken into a shed in Elgin but was caught “holding a pigeon with his jumper bulging out” in December 2013. A year later he returned to the same coops and stole 19 pigeons.
Yesterday he was back in court again, this time in Aberdeen where he admitted the theft of a further 24 pigeons.
Aberdeen Sheriff Court learned that Wells had crept into the back garden of pigeon fancier George Howie and taken the birds – but police quickly tracked down the notorious thief within days and returned the birds to their owner.
Wells, who is currently still serving the sentence handed down in August, will be sentenced for his latest theft on November 10.
Following the case Mr Howie, 72, said that he felt sorry for Wells, saying: “He’s only a young lad – if he had knocked at the door and asked I would have given him some birds. But he can’t keep doing it, he is spoiling people’s lives.”