Iain Campbell, 19, went to his grandparent’s house in Queen’s Crescent, Garelochhead for breakfast, but when his 83-year-old gran was cooking in the kitchen, he took the opportunity to steal from her purse.

He told his gran he had misplaced his cigarette lighter and was going to look for it, but never returned. A short time later she was looking though her purse and noticed the money was missing. She immediately contacted her daughter who in turn called police.

Police traced Campbell, who told them he had stolen the money to pay off debts.

Campbell, of Shore Road, told police: “I’m sorry, I took the money – I had to pay debts to people.” Jonathan Paul, defending, told Dumbarton Sheriff Court this was a ‘sad state of affairs’ and that Campbell had ‘jeopardised his relationship with his grandmother’.

He added: “He’s been in the grip of a severe cannabis addiction since he was 12 and that progressed to harder forms of the drug, namely ‘skunk’, when he was around 15 or 16.

“He was smoking about £400 a week at the time of this.” Since the incident Campbell has been attending the Community Addiction Team in Helensburgh and the Constructs programme to get on top of his habit and try and find employment.

Mr Paul added his client was ‘ashamed’ of his actions and was trying to repair his relationship with his grandmother. Sentencing, Sheriff Carol Kelly told Campbell this was a ‘particularly despicable crime.’ before sentencing him to a one year supervision order and ordering him to complete 105 unpaid hours within six months.