Hoodie-clad Robert Temporal, pictured, later claimed to police that he had a ‘lookalike’ — then told Greenock Sheriff Court that the man in the image resembled his brother.

Prosecutor Kevin Doherty told Temporal that his defence was ‘all over the place’ and put it to him: “So this man in the CCTV now has two lookalikes?” Temporal, 28, used the light from a mobile phone during a break-in to the Frederick’s Dental Surgery in Greenock’s Union Street to allow an unknown accomplice to force open a door.

He then unwittingly allowed the phone to shine on his face as he turned towards the security camera — allowing police to immediately identify him on viewing the footage.

Officers told the court that three doors had been forced open with a metal jemmy at the surgery on 11 May last year.

One PC said: “We froze the frame at the point where the accused had the phone light on his face. It provides clear identification.” Temporal — who was tracked down and arrested 19 days after the break-in last May — told police that he was at his ex-girlfriend’s house in Davey Street at the time of the offence.

When officers put it to him that the woman had said she hadn’t seen him for a month, he quickly changed tack and said he was at a cousin’s home in Princes Street.

But at his trial on Friday he insisted that he was boozing at another address in Larkfield’s Westmorland Road with two other relatives at the time of the break-in.

Temporal told police: “I am 100 per cent not guilty. I’ve got a lookalike.

“I just know it’s definitely not me.” The court heard that one family member who was involved in Temporal’s ‘alibi’ told police: “I’m getting my information from him.” Defence lawyer Aidan Gallagher put it to one police witness that the black and white CCTV footage was ‘grainy’ and ‘not clear’.

The officer replied: “It’s clear enough to know who it is.” Burly Temporal told the court: “The man in the CCTV is twice as wide as I am — his nose is wider and his lips are not as big as mine.” Temporal added that he was ‘stick thin’ last May.

Challenged by fiscal depute Mr Doherty, Temporal said: “I don’t know how the police didn’t notice that.” Asked if he and a relative had discussed his alibi explanation, he said: “Yes, we did discuss it to figure out the date. My head was all over the place.” Mr Doherty said: “You have been jumping all over the place to keep yourself out of trouble.” Sheriff Ian Fleming found Temporal guilty of the break-in with intent to steal whilst acting with another man following several courtroom viewings of the CCTV.

He told him: “I don’t accept your evidence.” Temporal, whose address in court papers is Balfour Street, Port Glasgow, will be sentenced on 4 March.