Landlord hammered for £40k worth of stolen booze

Landlord Kenneth McLean accepted the 57 bottles of vintage rare malt in place of rent, and accepted under the belief that it would rise in value and be a sound investment.

However, his investment backfired, when police stormed his property and arrested McLean, after a tip off that the whiskey was hidden in his loft. It transpires that the booze - nine bottles of 37-year-old Port Ellen worth almost £2,500 each, and seven bottles of Brora 1977 worth £12,250 -had recently gone missing from a Diageo storage vault in nearby Grangemouth.

Despite originally denying knowledge of the property being stolen, it transpires that McLean had spoken to social workers, and admitted that he had accepted the bottles as rent and had been “wilfully blind” to the fact they were ‘probably stolen’.

He subsequently admitted to resent – or possession of stolen goods – and was given a community sentence and ordered to complete 200 hours of unpaid work.

.