A pair of thieves who stole a sculpture from a tourist attraction to sell it for scrap were unaware it was a famous bronze statue worth almost £100,000.
Darren Angus and Gavin Pentland took the Mother and Child statue from Cherrybank Gardens in Perth and sold it to a scrap dealer for just £200.
The duo believed it was made from copper and had no idea it was cast from solid bronze and had been used to front advertising material for the gardens.
The life-sized statue had been commissioned by Bell's Whisky but was left behind when the gardens closed to the public. Angus and Pentland caused more than £2000 of damage dragging the statue from its plinth and across the ground before loading it into their van.
At Perth Sheriff Court yesterday, they both admitted stealing the statue on November 22 last year.
Angus, 33, of Murray Place, Stanley, and Pentland, 34, of Birnam Crescent, Perth, were both released on bail and sentence was deferred for reports by Sheriff Alastair Brown.
He warned them they could be sent to prison and said: "The theft of metal is a pervasive problem."
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