A man who repeatedly broke into a stranger's house to drink her whisky has failed to pay his victim £30 in compensation.

Handyman James Reid went in and out of Vikki Banks home until she became suspicious about the whisky disappearing from her bottle.

Reid's secret habit was eventually rumbled when his baffled victim set up a hidden surveillance camera.

He was ordered to pay her £30 but Perth Sheriff Court was told he had failed to pay a penny of the cost of replacing the whisky.

Reid, 54, Fordie Mains Farm, Perth, admitted breaking into the house in Gowan Brae, Blairgowrie, on February 9 last year and stealing whisky and wine. He also admitted breaching the court compensation order.

Sheriff William Wood told him: "If it is not paid in full there will be some other penalty.

"Do you realise what that means? Sometimes the law is a blunt instrument and it may be using a sledgehammer to crack a nut. It is only £30 but it must be paid."

He gave Reid two more weeks to pay the compensation.

The court heard how Reid took gulps of whisky and then topped up the bottle with water to cover his tracks before leaving Miss Banks' home and locking the door behind him.

He was initially ordered to carry out 90 hours unpaid work as part of a community payback order and fined £30.

Fiscal depute Bill Kermode said the victim suspected someone had been in her house because a bottle of Famous Grouse she kept on the window sill had been watered down.