Craigavon man, who pleaded guilty to theft of cordless drills, has 'to look over his shoulder every single day' while in Maghaberry Prison, court hears
A Co Armagh man, who pleaded guilty to stealing cordless drills, has “to look over his shoulder every single day” in prison.
John Gerard Ward, aged 30, from Ardowen, Monbrief, Craigavon appeared via video link from Maghaberry Prison on Friday.
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He faced a single charge of theft of two cordless drills valued at £99.98 belonging to Lidl in Portadown.
The court heard that on April 18th last year staff at Lidl in High St, Portadown discovered two empty boxes of 20v cordless drills valued at £49.99 each.
Staff watched CCTV and established that at 4.50pm on that date a man and woman entered the store and went towards the cordless drill section. The man could be seen removing the drills from their packaging while "shielding the female who concealed the items in a shopping bag”. Both left the store without paying.
Police identified the pair from the CCTV footage. Ward made a ‘no comment’ interview.
Ward’s lawyer said his client has been in custody since February. “The time that he has spent in custody, not that it is meant to be an easy time, but for him particularly it has been very difficult.
"You can see the way he has been presented to the Probation Officer. He is experiencing severe difficulties. He also suffering from very difficult mental health and stress situations because of that.
"Effectively he is having to look over his shoulder every single day, I will put it no higher than that,” he said.
District Judge Michael Ranaghan said he had seen the detail in relation to this, adding: “I can understand why you are not specifically referring to that.”
The lawyer said: “Because of that, and no fault of his own, he is even more restricted in terms of his movements in custody. He is in an even more unpleasant environment than most.”
He added his client has a “very relevant record” in relation to the charge before he court. He added that Ward had been unable to perfect a bail address and was now “isolated from his family”.
District Judge Michael Ranaghan said Ward’s record is “very much against him”. He sentenced him to two months jail plus Offender Levy of £25 and ordered him to pay £49.99.