Police are continuing to search for two balaclava-clad men who broke into the House of Bruar and stole alcohol worth more than £10,000. The luxury country clothing and specialty store near Blair Atholl was targeted in the early hours of Tuesday, October 27.
The thieves forced entry to the iconic department store before making off with the goods, understood to be whisky, in just five minutes. While the luxury store's security measures meant losses were far lower than they could have been, it is not the only high-value heist to happen across the country in recent years.
£1.3m Hamilton and Inches Jewellery Raid
One of the most high-value heists Scotland has seen in recent times was when an armed gang staged a terrifying £1.3 million jewel store heist at Hamilton and Inches in Edinburgh. Getaway driver Michael Hood was convicted after a six-day trial.
Staff at the premium store on George Street cowered during the 2014 robbery as thugs wielding axes, machetes and a sledgehammer smashed glass cabinets to steal jewellery and watches. The jury was shown CCTV footage of the raiders ransacking the upmarket shop and piling their haul into rucksacks.
Wearing identical balaclavas and boiler suits, they ordered staff to lie on the floor as they stole rings, necklaces and highly-collectable Patek Philippe timepieces. One necklace stolen after the gang made store boss Stephen Paterson open a window display was worth £325,000.
The highly professional robbery took just 90 seconds. Hood's high-powered vehicle was dumped minutes later in nearby Gloucester Lane, where a Honda had been left by the gang to use as a second getaway vehicle. Hood was undone after scientists recovered his DNA from the handbrake. None of the three men who entered the shop were identified.
Thief Paid £100 to Steal £336,000 of Whisky
In January 2022, serial thief Colin Stephenson was jailed after trying to steal whisky worth £336,000 from a lorry yard. A court heard the Wigan man claim he was to be paid the "relatively modest sum" of £100 by a gangland boss to carry out the heist.
A gang drove the lorry from Stuart Nicol Transport in Shotts during the incident of May 2021. But police used a tracker and caught them five miles away after a worker raised the alarm. At Hamilton Sheriff Court, Stephenson admitted the theft in May and was jailed for 32 months.
Chloe O'Hara, prosecuting, said: "Officers saw that the cab was detached and the trailer containing the whisky was now attached to another tractor unit. Only the driver was present when the vehicle was stopped but Stephenson's DNA was found."
£230k Argyll Arcade Heist
Stunned shoppers and staff dived for cover as a mob brandishing deadly weapons ran out of Glasgow's famous Argyll Arcade with a £230,000 haul in broad daylight. The city centre was stunned in September 2014 as the famous shopping precinct was the victim of what a judge called "serious and organised criminal conduct".
Jason Yendall, Aaron Brannan and Jason Britton made off with 21 high-end watches after bursting into the Rox jewellery shop. The trio – along with Alistair Oliver and Gordon McLay – also held up an RBS bank in Edinburgh stealing £20,000.
The day before the Argyll Arcade raid, Yendall, Brannan and Britton carried out a "dry run" of the route to and from the scene. The next morning, the trio along with two unknown associates travelled "in convoy" from Edinburgh. Armed with baseball bats, a sledgehammer and an axe, four of the men stormed the busy mall and immediately targeted the Rox store.
One worker activated a device that saw smoke fill the arcade in a bid to "disorientate" the raiders. But less than four minutes after arriving, the gang fled with their loot. In the end, the gang's downfall came when Britton was later unwittingly caught on a mobile phone photo wearing one of the stolen watches. Britton found himself in jail again this week after being caught with a firearm, ammunition and dirty cash near the Hilton Hotel in Glasgow.
Whisky Auction Manager Stole Rare Bottles
Whisky auction house manager Andrew Grant dodged jail in 2024 after being caught having stolen 45 rare bottles worth nearly £43,000. The Operations Manager conned friends and family into helping him sell the whisky online to fund his gambling debts.
Grant duped relatives saying he was able to buy the collectable whisky bottles at a huge discount from his work and sell them on for profit. But he was simply stealing some of the most valuable bottles from his Perth-based employer Whisky Auctioneer Ltd.
As well as the 45 bottles, Grant admitted acquiring and possessing £24,500 in criminal property. Sheriff Bain ordered him to complete 300 hours unpaid work, placed him under supervision for three years, and was also made to pay £2,000 compensation to Whisky Auctioneer Ltd.
£500,000 Armed Robbery at Gleneagles Hotel
In another violent raid, two men entered the prestigious Gleneagles Hotel in 2017 and made off with dozens of high-value Rolex watches. Masked robbers Richard Fleming and Liam Richardson were armed with hammers, a machete and a pistol as they stole goods worth more than half a million pounds.
Police said the nature of the assault and the level of violence led staff and visitors to think they were witnessing a terror attack. The heist at the remote site – which staged the 2014 Ryder Cup – was highly-planned and lasted for less than three minutes. The pair smashed up the display cabinets at the Mappin & Webb boutique. More than 200 police officers around the UK were involved in the subsequent investigation.
Some housebreakings in St Andrews a few weeks before the Gleneagles raid helped lead cops to the pair. Richardson from London was sentenced to 11 years and four months. Fleming, also of London, who denied being involved, was given an 18-year sentence. While being led out of the court room, he made a rude hand gesture to Lady Carmichael and called her a "rat".
Whisky Thief Swiped £20,000 Macallan Bottles
Light-fingered Allan Scott swiped limited edition James Bond whisky from a warehouse at Eurocentral near Motherwell in 2022. Staff at the GXO Logistics warehouse became aware of thefts and trawled through CCTV to find the culprit.
The forklift engineer was confronted in a loading bay where bottles of Macallan Harmony whisky were found stashed behind a bin. Police were called and Scott was taken to a conference room. There he admitted taking three cases of expensive Macallan Special Edition James Bond 60th anniversary whisky. A court heard he was getting "£4k a crate" for the limited edition 007 bottles.
As well as being tagged and placed under supervision, Scott was ordered to pay £20,000 compensation and ordered to carry out 300 hours of unpaid work.
