Man burgled shop in Ballymena and used a shopping trolley to gather up items
A man broke into a shop in Ballymena by getting onto a roof before gathering up items in a shopping trolley.
Jordan Benjamin McAuley (33), of Lanntara in Ballymena, appeared at Ballymena Magistrates Court on Thursday via video link from prison where he is a serving prisoner.
Earlier in the week he was given a 32 month jail term, half to be served in custody and half on licence, for rioting in Ballymena in June this year.
He has now pleaded guilty to burglary of Poundland at the Tower Centre in Ballymena on December 4 last year and assaulting a police officer on December 5 last year.
A prosecutor said that at 11.12pm police received a report of a burglary. The defendant had entered via the roof by smashing a window which led into a storeroom.
He "wandered around the storeroom gathering up items in a shopping trolley". He then had gone to a staff room and ransacked open lockers belonging to staff members.
He lifted a mobile phone which was charging and put a Poundland jacket on. When approached by a staff member the defendant said "I am just drunk" before running downstairs and escaping through a fire exit.
When spoken to by police he attempted to bite an officer.
A defence defence barrister said a "serious drug addiction" had "fuelled" the defendant's offending. The defendant is due for release from prison in November next year.
District Judge Nigel Broderick said it was a "bad incident of burglary".
He said the defendant had a "poor record" and handed down a six months prison term to be served concurrently with his present sentence.