A one-legged thief has been told to pay compensation after stealing items from a woman's handbag at Crosshouse Hospital.

Stephen Cassidy, 57, pleaded guilty to nicking a mobile phone, two chargers, bank cards, a buss pass and two ornamental items belonging to the handbag's owner.

Kilmarnock Sheriff Court heard Cassidy pounced after the woman left her handbag on a bench.

The procurator fiscal depute told how the woman and her daughter had attended the hospital on September 23 last year to visit a family member.

They sat together outside before heading into the canteen, where the mother realised that she had left her handbag on a bench outside. 

She returned to the bench and spoke to passers-by, including Cassidy, who said he had taken the bag into the security office. 

After being handed the bag by security, she found that a number of items were missing.

She returned to the bench to find Cassidy acting suspiciously, and when her daughter rang her mother's phone, it sounded in Cassidy's pocket. 

He handed over the phone, telling the mother that he was "going to hand this in as well". They also noticed bank cards and a bus pass hanging out of his pockets. 

The pair contacted police, who traced Cassidy. He was searched and two ornamental items were found before he was arrested.

His solicitor told the court that Cassidy was in receipt of Universal Credit, and was in hospital at the time for an operation to remove his leg. 

She added that Cassidy was under heavy medication at the time, and thought he was doing the owner service by taking the items out of the handbag, having intended to give them back to the pair.

Sheriff George Jamieson instructed Cassidy, of Orchard Gardens in Kilmarnock, to pay £100 compensation to his victims, at a rate of £10 per fortnight.