Man charged in relation to “Superglue Bandit” incidents across Scots city

A MAN has been arrested and charged in connection with a spate of Scots businesses having their outdoor padlocks and keypads super-glued.

Police Scotland launched a man-hunt in January after a mysterious suspect dubbed the “Superglue Bandit” targeted several properties across Edinburgh.

A 50-year-old male has now been arrested and charged with malicious mischief for cutting internet and TV cables, along with gluing locks in Leith.

CCTV captured a man approaching events venue The Biscuit Factory on two separate occasions – at around 7.35pm on 3 January and 9.35am on 6 January.

Footage showed him casually strolling up to the venue wearing a black jacket, grey scarf, blue jeans and trainers and fiddling with something in his hands.

He disappeared out of shot into the alcove of the door for about 15 seconds then nonchalantly walks away after taking a quick glance around.

Staff later discovered that the entry keypad had been super-glued meaning they were unable to get inside the door.

Three days later, during broad daylight, CCTV captured a man, thought to be the same culprit, approaching the same door where a padlock was found to be super-glued.

Workers from the venue had to get bolt-cutters to cut through the padlock so they could get into the building.

Staff from Pure Offices across the road were also unable to access their car park after finding the padlock to their gates super-glued on the morning of 4 January.

Edinburgh Woolen Mill, and arts business and several other units in the area complained about their locks being glued up.

Business owners were left baffled by the reasoning behind the incidents and named the vandal locally as the “Superglue Bandit”.

A spokeswoman for The Biscuit Factory said at the time: “It has all been very weird with our serial-super-gluer.

“It’s absolute madness. I’m finding it rather funny now, but it certainly wasn’t at the time.

“I believe he glued an arts centre and a print centre locally also, and some units round the corner from us on Bangor Road.

“The footage shows he is older and well-dressed, so he doesn’t really fit the hooligan demographic, which makes it even stranger.

“In the first bit of footage you see him walk right past the camera screwing the lid back on his tube.

“However, in the next clip he is covered over and has also upgraded from a normal tube of superglue to an adhesive spray which sets much faster, so he is getting wiser.

“We have reported to the police on both occasions, and they were going to share his image but haven’t, so I wonder if they maybe caught up with him.”

A spokeswoman for Pure Offices Ltd said: “It’s just bizarre. The guy looks to be in his 30s or 40s, he’s not a kid.

“He super-glued the keyhole of the lock, and there was absolutely no way to get it open so we ended up having to get someone with bolt cutters to come and break it open.

“Replacing that padlock alone costs us about £100 for a heavy duty one. I’m not sure what he gets out of it, it’s really just the oddest thing.”

An office worker from the same building said: “It was strange, the gates are always open but when I turned up for work the padlock was still on.

“Another office worker from the building was walking in at the same time and was confused as to why it wasn’t open either as staff use the car park daily.

“It was only after chatting to people that we found out that it was some middle-aged man who had been targeting local businesses – The Biscuit Factory got hit.

“He is known now as the ‘Superglue Bandit’. It’s all very odd.”

A spokesperson for Police Scotland said: “A 50-year-old man has been charged with malicious mischief after cutting internet and TV cables, along with gluing locks in Leith.

“A report will be sent to the Procurator Fiscal and he is expected to appear at court on a later date.”