Gilford man to appeal jail term for stealing 'spree' across filling stations and shops over Northern Ireland including Portadown, Lurgan and Dungannon

The 38-year-old appeared before Craigavon Magistrates Court.

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Adrian Grehan, of Ann Street, Gilford, faced three theft charges and four counts of making off without paying.

He was charged with, on March 17, 2026, stealing groceries valued at £47.96 from one merchant and taking diesel from Ranfurly Service Station, worth £84.62, making off without paying.

Grehan was also accused of stealing groceries worth £10.55 from Spar on March 10, 2026 and making off without paying for £89.77 worth of diesel.

He was further charged of making off with £110.16 worth of diesel from a service station on April 3, 2026.

He was also charged with stealing groceries worth £11.21 or thereabouts belonging to Eurospar Portadown on April 14, 2026 and making off with £110.03 worth of fuel from a service station without paying.

A prosecutor outlined that police received reports of a number of thefts and making off without payments on various dates at different Spar locations across Northern Ireland including Portadown, Lurgan and Dungannon.

Police attended each location and reviewed CCTV footage showing the defendant not scanning groceries and filling up with fuel and then failing to pay for the goods.

All reports involve the same BMW car for which the defendant is a named driver on the insurance and the only male on the insurance.

The court heard Grehan attended Lurgan police station on May 10 and made full admissions.

Defence barrister Mr David McKeown said Grehan offers “no excuse for his behaviour”.

“He accepts it was wholly inappropriate,” he said.

Mr McKeown said Grehan had come out of an 18-year relationship just before these incidents.

“He had taken that quite badly and developed significant mental health problems,” he said, adding Grehan was working with a men’s group and was taking medication he received from his GP.

"He was struggling with that medication at the time,” said the barrister, adding his client claims not knowing what he was doing.

"But he fully accepts that is no excuse that’s no excuse for his actions. They are too repeated,” said Mr McKeown.

He revealed his client had lost his job at the time of the offences but since has attained a trainee position which allowed him to bring restitution of the full amount, £463.30.

Mr McKeown said Grehan's record is “far from the worst” and this was the first dishonesty-type offence.

District Judge Ranaghan described it as a “significant” record with 20 convictions.

“Some are historic and some are not. But this is your first offence of dishonesty. However it is a series of offences of dishonesty," said the district judge, giving the defendant credit for bringing restitution to court.

"This is an offending spree. None of these things are victimless. There are the people who work there who have to deal with people like you who think they can ride up to petrol stations, do what they want and drive off leaving everybody else out of pocket,” he said.

“This has to be an immediate custodial sentence,” he said, sentencing Grehan to a total of four months in prison plus the £25 offender levy.

Grehan was later released on £300 bail to appeal the sentence.