A WALLYFORD man who committed “a quite shameful” offence by breaking into his own mother’s home and stealing goods has been jailed.

Gordon Grant entered his mum’s home on the village’s Albert Place after learning she and his stepdad had gone on a short holiday to Blackpool.

Grant, 44, used a key he possessed to allow himself entry, without having consent, on April 7 this year.

A neighbour heard a disturbance within the home at around 6.30am and contacted homeowner Marie Grant to see if she had returned early.

The neighbour then saw Grant pushing a wheelie bin full of items taken from the house along the road including jewellery, a safe, a quantity of electrical items and bottles of perfumes and aftershave.

Police were contacted and, after visiting the property, the officers later viewed CCTV from a bus which showed Grant on board.

Edinburgh Sheriff Court was told the value of theft was about £2,570.

The court was also told of a separate offence where Grant, of Salters Road, was caught driving a vehicle while already serving a motoring ban.

Police officers in an unmarked car were parked near to Macfarlane Court, Elphinstone, on June 5 last year.

Grant pulled up beside them and was seen getting out the driver’s door and was said to be “unsteady on his feet” and was “swaying and drooling from his mouth”.

He admitted to the officers he was banned from driving and told them he was “absolutely wired”.

Officers then discovered a knife hidden in the driver’s door of the vehicle.

Subsequent police checks showed Grant was serving a road ban and when told of this he was quoted as saying, “I’m going to jail”. Grant appeared from custody at the Capital court last Thursday where he pleaded guilty to three offences.

Solicitor Ross Gardner told the court the housebreaking offence had been “an impulsive” act and added “it goes without saying there is a background of drug addiction”.

Regarding the driving matter, Mr Gardner said that Grant had been in his friend’s car and that “he should not have driven, but he did”.

Sheriff Douglas Keir told Grant it was “quite shameful behaviour robbing your own parents” and that “the only appropriate sentence is a custodial sentence”.

Grant was sentenced to an eight-month jail term for the housebreaking charge and a further 30 weeks for the driving and knife possession offences.

The sheriff ordered both jail terms to run consecutively and also issued Grant with a 10-year driving ban.

Grant pleaded guilty to breaking into a home at Albert Place, Wallyford, on April 7. He also admitted to driving while unfit through drink or drugs, driving while disqualified, and to possessing a knife at Macfarlane Court, Elphinstone, on June 5 last year.