Man who mounted 'brazen' daylight theft of scrap metal in Ballymena is barred from entering any Spar shop in Northern Ireland
A judge has said it was the "end of the road" for a man who mounted a "brazen" daylight theft of scrap metal in Ballymena.
District Judge Nigel Broderick was speaking about a 37-year-old who took scrap metal worth '£500' on March 23 this year.
Damian Pawel Zawadzki, formerly of Dunclug Park but now living at Dunclug Gardens in Ballymena, also admitted stealing alcohol worth £9 from Spar at Grove Road in Ballymena on December 4 last year and alcohol worth £50 from the shop on December 10.
A prosecutor told Ballymena Magistates' Court that a person had gone home for his lunch. Gates at a mechanic's yard in Ballymena were open. CCTV showed the defendant and another male loading scrap metal onto a flatbed lorry.
The prosecutor said the other suspect was not identified.
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The scrap metal was not recovered, the court was told.
A defence solicitor said the defendant works with scrap metal and Zawadzki believed the "mechanic would not have had any use for these items".
The court heard the defendant had 58 previous convictions including 25 for theft and had been in prison in 2011.
Judge Broderick said scrap metal has a value and it had been a "brazen theft in the middle of the day".
He added: "Today is the end of the road" and jailed the defendant for five months.
£500 bail was fixed for appeal and as part of the bail the defendant is not to enter any Spar shop in Northern Ireland.