A DUNFERMLINE man caught stealing a box set of TV drama Prison Break escaped a jail sentence of his own this week when he appeared at Dunfermline Sheriff Court.

Jason Mooney, 24, appeared in the dock for sentencing on Wednesday after earlier admitting taking the DVDs from Tesco in Winterthur Lane on July 31.

He had also admitted being in possession of class A drug diamorphine on the same date.

Depute fiscal Dev Kapadia said Mooney had been spotted on CCTV acting suspiciously in the DVD aisle and, when stopped, was found with the DVDs which were recovered. The amount of heroin he was found with was 1.2 grammes.

Mooney's defence solicitor said his client, whose address was given on court papers as the James Bank Hostel, however, was said in court to be Izzatt Avenue, had had something of a "difficult period in his life" for the past few years.

After a separation from his girlfriend, he had been encouraged by "one wayward member of his friendship group" to try drugs and found himself with an addiction within a week.

"Following his last appearance, his father learned of this from a report in the Dunfermline Press," said the solicitor.

"That triggered his brother and father to get back in touch with him and try and get him back onto a level footing."

Sheriff Craig McSherry placed Mooney on a community payback order with a 12-month supervision requirement and also placed him on a restriction of liberty order for four months.