A thief raided his parents' home of more than £28,000 worth of cash and jewellery while they were on holiday.

Rickie Tait was jailed for sneaking into his parents' house in Dundee when they were in Canada and stealing £19,300 in cash and £9,000 worth of jewellery.

He got into a locked dressing room and made off with a safe which he later burst open with a screwdriver at an associate's home.

Tait managed to blow almost £1500 of the cash in a matter of hours before he was caught. Only one watch was recovered from the haul of jewellery.

Fiscal depute Eilidh Robertson told Dundee Sheriff Court: "The accused is only allowed in the house if other family members are present.

"On July 8 last year, the accused's parents were on holiday in Canada and he attended around 9pm and asked to borrow money.

"His sister was there and refused but he contacted his mother and she said he could borrow £35 and stay overnight as long as he left in the morning with his sister and her partner.

"They all left the property around 8am the following morning. At lunchtime, the accused's sister's partner returned to check on the dog and found the dressing room had been forced open and the safe stolen.

"He suspected the accused and they attended his home and confronted him. He denied it and police were called.

"His sister searched the home and found a quantity of cash behind a boiler. £17,820 was recovered from the accused's home - there had initially been £19,300 in the safe.

"The remainder of the cash was unrecovered. The jewellery was valued at £9,000 but only a £350 watch was recovered at the home of an associate."

Tait, 37, a prisoner at HMP Perth, pleaded guilty on indictment to a charge of theft.

Solicitor advocate Jim Laverty, defending, said: "To have stolen from his parents was disgraceful and he is disgusted with himself.

"He realises exactly the depths to which he was willing to go to finance his drug addiction. This was an awful offence and he accepts that.

"I'd ask that the court take into account his genuine remorse, shame, contrition and disgust for committing this particular offence."

Sheriff Alastair Carmichael jailed Tait for 15 months.

He said: "I'm afraid I'm not persuaded I can deal with this by anything other than a custodial sentence. It is a serious crime and one that you obviously thought through."