AN OPPORTUNISTIC thief has been handed a nighttime curfew after stealing a phone and bank cards from a hospital worker at Inverclyde Royal.

Greenock Sheriff Court was told that Alan Smith, 47, stole a mobile, a phone wallet, a number of bank and other cards and a driving licence from a female IRH staff member in the hospital's Ward J on September 4, 2020.

Smith, of Drumfrochar Road, committed the offence while on a court bail order granted the previous month.

He also breached the terms of the same bail order by failing to turn up at Greenock police office to sign on on various occasions in December 2020.

Meanwhile, he admitted to taking a bottle of alcohol from Greenock's B&M store on January 3 last year whilst subject to two bail orders.

Sheriff Neil Kinnear sentenced Smith, who he said has a 'terrible record for theft', to two years of supervision as well as a six-month restriction of liberty order requiring him to remain at home between 7pm and 7am each night. A review has been set for August 30.