A BRAZEN thief who helped himself to fuel from filling stations in Alexandria and Dumbarton on a £500 crime spree across the west of Scotland is behind bars.

Mohamad Barvi took fuel worth £26 from the BP filling station in Glasgow Road on May 15.

He then struck at John H Glen and Sons garage in Main Street, Alexandria, on May 28.

Then, on June 29, he stole more fuel, this time £40 worth from the Morrisons filling station in Glasgow Road, Dumbarton.

On July 5, he targeted BP Milton Service Station, on Dumbarton Road, taking a total of £46.03 before stealing £35.58 worth of fuel from the BP Garage at Lomond Service Station in Jamestown on August 2.

Following thefts from a further 10 petrol stations, Barvi ended his theft spree where it began by helping himself to a further £35.16 worth of fuel from the Glasgow Road garage on August 6 – culminating in a total of £532.85 worth of fuel being stolen.

The 28-year-old was on bail at the time of the offences, having been released on bail at Dumbarton Sheriff Court on April 25.

Barvi also admitted a charge of shouting and swearing at his 60-year-old mother – where he demanded money from her and claimed he wished she would die from cancer – and at police officers in Dryburgh Road, Bearsden, on April 24 and of breaching special bail conditions by contacting his mother on July 8 and going to the Dryburgh Road address on July 21.

On the latter date he also struggled violently with four police officers at the same address.

In a further charge, Barvi admitted driving carelessly causing two police officers to fear he was driving in their direction and forcing them to take evasive action, which depute fiscal Scott Simpson said successfully avoided a collision.

Barvi appeared in the dock at Dumbarton Sheriff Court on November 15 for sentencing after a psychiatric background, which had been called for showed, he had no mental health problems.

His defence agent explained Barvi had a difficult childhood as he and his family were forced to flee their homeland, Iran, and he struggled from back problems which left him in constant pain.

He told the court: “He found it difficult to work and he found himself, for a while, relying on painkillers and cannabis.

“His bout of taking cannabis left him short of money and then that led to theft and difficulties with his family.

“In hindsight, he sees the description of his behaviour within the report as immature and feckless as a fair description.”

Barvi’s defence agent added that his client’s time in prison having been in custody for three months had allowed him to curb his cannabis problem.

Sheriff Simon Pender told Barvi: “I have every sympathy for you and your family in respect of the circumstances of which you and your family had to leave Iran.

“However, that was many years ago and it does not impact this horrendous catalogue of offending, that offending was against a bad record.”

For the thefts – which Sheriff Pender described as a “serious course of planned offending” – Barvi was sentenced to 12 months in prison.

He was disqualified from driving for eight months and sentenced to a further eight months in prison for the string of other charges, resulting in a total of 20 months behind bars.