A drug addict who terrified a Paisley mum who woke up to find him rifling through her home has been jailed for more than two years.
Stunned Jennifer Kerr thought her son had got up during the night but when she went to check, she found Hugh MacQuarrie prowling around in her living room.
She screamed for partner, Andrew Hannigan, when she discovered her front door wide open and MacQuarrie in the house in the early hours of the morning.
The 35-year-old home radier admitted attempting to steal from the Albion Street home when he appeared at Paisley Sheriff Court.
Depute procurator fiscal Keri Marshall told Paisley Sheriff Court: “At 2.20am on June 20 last year Jennifer Kerr was woken up by noises coming from within her house.
“At this time she assumed that her son had woken up and was moving about in his bedroom.
“As such she got out of bed and went into the hall.
“She noticed that her front door was wide open.
“She was standing at the top of the stairs and at this time she saw the accused standing in the living room wearing a grey jacket with a hooded top.”
The court heard MacQuarrie fled from the property after Ms Kerr shouted on her partner, who chased MacQuarrie before calling the cops.
Bizarrely, MacQuarrie walked back towards Mr Hanngian, telling him that his friend John had told him to collect a PlayStation from the house.
Afterwards, Ms Kerr and Mr Hannigan found a mobile phone beside their PlayStation and two laptops which had been removed from a TV cabinet.
Depute fiscal Marshall added: “That phone was analysed and found to have the accused’s DNA around the edges of the phone.
“Police officers carried out a search and observed the accused at Fountain Gardens and coming out of bushes on Love Street.
“There was a short pursuit on foot before the accused was apprehended.
“He was taken to Greenock police station and was cautioned and charged.”
The court was told that the householders were shown pictures of MacQuarrie and identified him as the intruder in their home.
His defence agent David Nicholson said the break in was driven by MacQuarrie’s drug addiction.
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Mr Nicholson urged Sheriff James Spy to assess MacQuarrie for a drug treatment and testing order (DTTO), arguing he been clean for four years having been treated for his problems in the community previously.
“On November 26, 2013 he was made subject to a DTTO. That proceeded a four-year period without reoffending,” Mr Nicholson said.
“He accepts that his actions were undertaken to buy drugs.
“This is on going cycle that may be best addressed by addressing the underlying issues.
“Certainly there has been a relapse, but historically he has addressed his problems.”
But Sheriff Spy said house breaking was a “serious matter”, made worse by the fact MacQuarrie had been on bail with a curfew at the time of the offence.
He jailed him for 29 months, backdated to October 14, 2019 when he was first taken into custody.
