Would be bomb maker dressed up in white forensic suit to steal drugs from Bonnybridge pharmacy

Robert Long (30) dressed in a police style forensic suit and a ski mask when he entered the Lindsay and Gilmour Chemists in Bonnnybridge and proceeded to help himself to a carrier bag full of drugs from the shelves.

Long was later found to have bomb making paraphernalia at his accommodation in Falkirk’s Castings Hostel.

Appearing at Falkirk Sheriff Court today, Long was told he was “very fortunate” not to have been sentenced to a “substantial” jail term and was instead place on a two-year drug treatment and testing order.

Sheriff Simon Collins made it plain his hands were tied by a previous decision in the case.

He indicated he felt bound by a decision of another sheriff, who released Long from custody last month and called for a DTTO assessment.

The other sheriff, Sheriff Craig Caldwell, said at the time that he would accept “with some reluctance” a recommendation by social workers that the DTTO assessment should be obtained.

Today, dealing with the case in Sheriff Caldwell’s absence, Sheriff Collins said: “I’ve read the report and I think Mr Long is fortunate. On the face of it, on the facts, it’s a very substantial prison sentence. However it’s implicit that Sheriff Caldwell has taken the view that if there was a favourable report saying Mr Long was suitable for a DTTO, that’s where this should go.

“But Mr Long should be under no illusion that that’s an alternative to a very substantial prison sentence.”

Solicitor-advocate Stephen Biggam, defending, replied: “Mr Long is under no such illusions.”

Falkirk Sheriff Court heard in March that Long, who lived at the time in the council-run Castings Hostel in Falkirk, walked into Lindsay and Gilmour Chemists in the middle of the day dressed in a white police-style forensic suit and wearing a ski mask or balaclava.

Staff were startled as Long entered the restricted area, where medication is stored, and piled a quantity of medicines into a plastic career bag, and walked out again.

The incident, which happened on January 9, was said to have taken less than 90 seconds.

The value and type of drugs taken was not revealed, nor were they recovered.

Ten days later the “distinctive” ski mask was found in Long’s bedroom at the hostel by police executing a search warrant.

Officers also found what prosecutor Ashleigh Smith described as “a number of other items of concern”.

These included a shotgun cartridge that had been opened and re-filled with wax and ball-bearings, other cartridge cases and metal cases, metal rods, more ball-bearings, a bullet, “various dismantled cameras” and £20 worth of heroin.

The items were examined by a forensic scientist and Long was questioned at Falkirk Police Station.

Miss Smith said: “He indicated to officers he had a fascination with guns, but had no access to firearms capable of discharging the ammunition. He told officers he regularly researched the Internet for information on making firearms and explosives.

“He told officers specifically about how to make various items, including a pipe bomb, and was aware that other items recovered could be used to make one. However, he said he had no intention of doing so.”

Long told police he had “modified the shotgun cartridge by using wax in it along with the ball bearings, to put it back together”.

Miss Smith said: “The accused indicated to officers that he tended to make these items when taking drugs.”

After being cautioned and charged in relation to the modified cartridge, Long said: “It was curiosity – it was to keep it together and give it weight.”

Long, now of Claremont Street, Bonnybridge, pled guilty to robbing the chemists’, possessing heroin, and possessing the modified shotgun cartridge without a Firearms Certificate.