BONSAI trees worth hundreds of thousands of pounds were stolen from
the home of an international expert and collector, Edinburgh Sheriff
Court heard yesterday.
Only six of the Japanese shrubs -- worth #60,000 -- were recovered and
their value was said to have been halved by damage caused by the
thieves.
The court was told that the collection, owned by leading bonsai grower
Craig Cousins, of Stockbridge, Edinburgh, was raided last September.
''He considers them to be works of art and priceless and found it very
difficult to put a value on them,'' said depute-fiscal Alison Shiach. Mr
Cousins, who has cultivated the miniature trees for 30 years, claimed
his stolen collection was worth #250,000.
Six trees were recovered with the help of William Brankin after a
tip-off to police.
Brankin, 28, of Cobbinshaw House, Edinburgh, admitted the reset of a
quantity of trees stolen from Mr Cousins' garden.
A West Lothian garden centre, specialising in the sale of the oriental
trees also was raided two months earlier, it was claimed.
A number of trees were stolen in two raids on the Almond Valley Bonsai
Centre at Kirknewton last July.
Thomas King, 22, of Lauriston Park, and Mark Gibson, 19, of Ritchie
Place, both Edinburgh, admitted the reset of trees from the centre.
Miss Shiach said the three accused had worked together in the gardens
of a nursing-home and developed an interest in plants and shrubs.
Mr John Scott, defending, claimed that the six trees found through
Brankin had been damaged before he received them.
The three men were ordered to appear in court for sentence on July 12.
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