A CLEANER stole bottles of booze from Tesco before being caught carrying a blade.

Glasgow Sheriff Court heard how Sean Byrne had been drinking after work with pals when he lifted the drink from the Maryhill store.

When cops tracked down the 44-year-old they found a scraper on him with a sharp blade.

Depute fiscal Tanjeel Maleque told the court about the incident on March 2 last year.

He said: "The accused was found to have entered Tesco at 5.30pm where he moves alcohol and places them under his arm and leaves the locus.

"Police were contacted and came to the store.

"At around 6.20pm the accused is approached by police and is spoken to in relation to the theft.

"He was thereafter searched and a green handled scraper with a retractable blade was found.

"He was cautioned and charged."

Byrne, from Summerston, is a cleaner and his defence lawyer said the blade was part of his work kit.

His defence brief said: “He had been working earlier that day.

“He works as a cleaner.

“He has got a difficultly with alcohol.

“He had bought some alcohol earlier that day and had consumed it in the company of other people.

“When he met other people after he finished work he had taken some Valium and then he was on his way home and went into Tesco.

“It was a work tool he uses to remove paint from window sills and he needed it for work but he shouldn’t have taken it along with him.

“It was bad decision making on his part."

Sheriff Patricia Pryce put Byrne on a community payback order for 18 months.

He was also ordered to carry out 108 hours of unpaid work and given 12 months in which to do it.