A THIEF broke into a Musselburgh home and made off with £1,000 of electrical goods. . . before dumping most of the items because he could not sell them.

Warren Young forced his way into the home on Beach Lane and stole a TV, an iPad, a DVD player and a music player.

The drug addict then attended at the local Money Station shop, where he attempted to exchange the stolen goods for cash.

But when the store staff only took the Sony television, Young proceeded to leave the shop and throw the stolen stereo into a skip sitting outside.

Police subsequently found the stolen iPad dumped in a nearby bush with its screen smashed.

Young pleaded guilty to breaking into the flat at Beach Lane on March 21 when he appeared in the dock at Edinburgh Sheriff Court last Thursday.

Sheriff Robert Fife deferred sentence to August for reports to be prepared but he warned Young that “all options remain open to this court and I will be considering a custodial sentence”.

Fiscal depute Nicole Lavelle told the court that Young, 34, had been seen banging on the home’s window with “a large pole-like object” at about 1pm that day.

The thief spotted the neighbour looking at him and left the scene but at about 5pm police were notified that a window had been smashed at the property.

An hour later, the homeowner returned to find she had been broken into and immediately noticed which electrical goods had been taken.

The police were contacted and the following day officers attended the Money Station outlet and were told that Young had been in the previous day trying to sell off electrical items.

Police found the damaged stereo in the skip outside the shop’s front door and also seized the TV.

The homeowner then activated the Check My iPhone app on her phone which located a signal from her missing iPad and police soon stopped Young due to this near to his home at the town’s King Street.

Young then gave “a full and frank admission” when interviewed by police and admitted breaking into the flat before dumping most of the goods.

He told officers that he had smashed his way into the home by breaking a window with his elbow and during the theft he had also stolen an Easter egg from the house.

Solicitor Elaine Clancy, defending, said that her unemployed client had “drug difficulties” with heroin which were “still ongoing but under control”.

The lawyer reserved her full mitigation until the sentencing diet.

Young pleaded guilty to breaking into the home at Beach Lane and stealing a quantity of electrical items, binoculars and a quantity of food on March 21.