Suspended prison term for man who breached border controls after flying to Belfast from Corfu
A man who breached border controls at Belfast International Airport after a flight from Corfu by failing to provide a passcode for a mobile phone has been given a two months prison sentence, suspended for three years.
John Reid (50), of Earlscourt Street in Belfast, pleaded guilty to a charge that he 'wilfully obstructed, or sought to frustrate, a search or examination' on September 19 last year.
A prosecutor said when the defendant's passport was being checked it was "noted that he was trying to pass" a mobile phone to another person. Police then asked him for the passcode for the phone.
A defence barrister told Antrim Magistrates Court, sitting in Ballymena, the defendant was initially able to open the phone by facial recognition but after the phone locked he "could not remember his passcode".
The lawyer said the defendant said he did not co-operate with Probation because "it is too intrusive".
District Judge Nigel Broderick said as the defendant had "declined" to speak to Probation he could not give a community-based Order and instead gave the defendant, who had a record, a suspended sentence.