Man with over 100 convictions walked out of shop in Portrush with trolley filled with alcohol, garden furniture and tools
A man filled a trolley with alcohol, garden furniture and power tools worth £460 and left Lidl, Portrush, without paying.
Francis James Reid (37), with an address listed as Lodge Road, Coleraine, received a six-month prison term, suspended for 18 months, and £100 fine at Antrim Magistrates Court, sitting in Ballymena.
The court heard the defendant was accompanied by another male who has been charged to appear at a later court.
A prosecutor said a police patrol noticed a trolley outside an address in Portrush.
The court also heard that on April 10 Reid failed to pay for a '£30' taxi trip. Two males had been collected from Coleraine Train Station and were taken to Portstewart. They got out at an ATM "before running away".
A defence solicitor said the offending had been "madness" after Reid, who had been living in a Coleraine hostel, had "kept his nose clean for a year" whilst on prison release licence.
The court heard he had 108 previous convictions.