Convicted Peterhead shoplifter goes on spree again, four days after release

A serial shoplifter went on an alcohol and food-stealing spree around Peterhead, four days after his release from prison, reports stated on Tuesday (31).

Kieran McLean was released after serving eight months in jail for stealing more than £370 worth of items from five supermarkets in his hometown. However, just four days after the release, he allegedly started shoplifting again.

McLean has been accused of picking alcohol from the Aldi store in Kirk Street and the Asda in Longside Road as well as meat from the Co-op on Kinmundy Road, local reports said, adding that he also helped himself to more booze from Aldi store again. 

McLean was caught on Friday (27) while shoplifting meat from Asda, local reports said.

Defending McLean, defence agent Stuart Flowerdew has appealed to the court to help his client break the cycle of offending.

Flowerdew argued his client was given £70 on his release and had another four weeks to wait until he received a Universal Credit payout, the reports said. The lawyer also blamed his client’s persistent offending on “difficult upbringing”, leaving McLean with little “problem-solving skills”.

“His offending began in his early 20s when his background in Peterhead caught up with him,” the court heard. “He has been swept up in that since.”

He said the former heroin addict had been off the drug for a year and was beginning to benefit from an “embryonic network of support” forming around him, stated reports.

“There is a cycle,” he added. 

“He comes out of custody, cannot cope, reoffends and goes right back into custody. If something can be done perhaps he is a young man who could be effectively rescued from this constant cycle,” the defence lawyer said. 

Sentencing has been deferred for the creation of reports until September 13, when McLean will appear at Peterhead Sheriff Court.

McLean was accused of a shoplifting spree between October 22 and 29 last year, stealing £370  worth of meat and alcohol from Peterhead supermarkets.