A 37-YEAR-OLD man has been fined £110 after taking his estranged wife’s phone from her handbag in a Dunfermline nightclub.

Kevin Downie wanted to see her messages but after taking it claimed he did not have the chance to put it back and the police were contacted.

Downie, 37, of Drummond Square, Lochgelly, submitted a guilty plea at Dunfermline Sheriff Court.

He admitted that on March 14, at Life nightclub, Dunfermline, he took a mobile phone from the handbag of his former partner, reviewed the contents of it and refused to return it when requested to do so.

Depute fiscal Jill Currie said the complainer was having a night out in Dunfermline with a female friend when they bumped into her husband.

He asked if he could join them and they agreed. Later in the night, her phone went missing from her bag. She suspected it was her husband who had taken it and told him to turn out his pockets but he denied being responsible.

The next day, Downie’s mother received a phone call about what had happened and got the phone back from him.

When arrested, Downie said: “I didn’t mean to steal it, I meant to put it back after I’d read her messages.”

Defence solictor Alexander Flett said his client had acted out of “nosiness” and did not get the chance to put the phone back before being accused.

Sheriff Alastair Brown said it was a “deplorable breach of privacy” but noted that it was not a charge of theft.