Celtic shirt paid for with stolen bank card

[ian1964 10,563]

Celtic shirt paid for with stolen bank card, court told

 

The man bought the top in JD Sports around the corner from the pub

An “opportunistic” thief who stole a bank card from the staff room of a Belfast bar which he then used to pay for a Celtic top in JD Sports was jailed for eight months on Monday.

Daniel Sheenan will spend an additional eight months on licence after serving his jail term for offences he committed in the city centre on April 18 this year.

Belfast Crown Court heard that police received a report that a theft had occurred in the staff room of a bar on Lower Garfield Street. A member of staff who left her coat and handbag noticed her purse, containing cash and bankcards, was missing.

When the woman realised her cards were missing, she checked her account online and discovered her card had just been used in nearby JD Sports, where a Celtic top was purchased.

CCTV from the bar was checked, which showed a male entering the premises via a fire exit and entering the staffroom.

Meanwhile, police who were tasked to JD Sports noticed a man fitting the description of the intruder from the bar close to the sports shop. Wearing a Celtic top, he identified himself as Daniel Sheenan, and when searched he was found in possession on the stolen bank cards.

 

As well as using the cards to buy the football top, Sheenan, from Antrim Road in Belfast, also tried to purchase a four-pack of Budweiser from Dunnes.

Sheenan - who has 163 previous criminal convictions - was arrested, and while he initially denied being in the bar or buying the Celtic top, he later admitted burglary and fraud by false representation.

Defence barrister Joe Brolly said Sheenan’s life was “unstable” and followed an “absolutely inevitable” course after he was removed from the family home as a baby.

This, the barrister said, involved being fostered and being taken into care home, leaving school with no qualifications, not working, living in hostels and drifting into crime and drugs.

Asking for leniency, Mr Brolly spoke of deprivation, poverty and a lack of intellect - as well as a period that Sheenan spent living on the street.

Accepting the burglary at the bar was “opportunistic”, Judge David McFarland branded Sheenan’s record as "extensive". Handing Sheenan a 16-month sentence, the Judge said: “The court has to impose a sentence on people who steal other people’s property.”

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[pete 2,499]

163 offences and then asking for leniency. Throw away the key.