A 60-YEAR-OLD man who admitted breaking into a house in the Borders has been jailed for eight months at Selkirk Sheriff Court.

Gordon Williamson also pleaded guilty to a second charge of attempted housebreaking with intent to steal at a nearby property in Galashiels Road, Stow, in December 2022.

Williamson was confronted by one householder when he was found on the porch of her home shortly before midday and said he was looking at a car.

But a check of the property’s CCTV showed him rifling through a drawer in the house. Police carried out door to door enquiries and found an attempt had been made to break into another property.

The court heard that cash and jewellery had been stolen but all items were recovered.

Williamson’s lawyer blamed his client’s addiction to alcohol for his offending, describing his schedule of previous convictions as “absolutely horrendous”.

He added there were two other accused in the case who were proceeding to trial.

Sheriff Kevin McCarron accepted Williamson, from Dalkeith, had stayed out of trouble for the past 18 months but said a custodial sentence was “inevitable”.