A judge told a Tandragee man with 187 previous convictions to “wise up” if he doesn’t want to spend much of the rest of his life in prison.
District Judge Michael Ranaghan was speaking at Craigavon Magistrates’ Court to Glenn Ethan Flynn, with an address listed on one charge sheet as Ballymore Park.
The 31-year-old appeared at court via video link from prison.
He admitted burglary of a dwelling at Ballyoran Park in Portadown, and stealing a pair of trainers worth £100 on November 25, last year.
When arrested he was wearing the stolen trainers.
On January 15, last year, he stole, according to his charge sheet, ‘make-up’ and household items worth a total of £200 from Tesco in Craigavon. There were three other people with him, the court was told.
A defence barrister said the trainers were taken when the defendant had been drinking and was “not thinking straight”.
He said it was “possibly the most opportunistic of crimes” and after he had “gone seeking help” he saw “a nice pair of shoes that were nicer than his own behind a doorway and when the Good Samaritan walked away he grabbed them and hid them. Strange behaviour but I think it underlined the position he was in at the time”.
Judge Ranaghan told the defendant: “Custody has been a significant feature of this man’s life. You will spend the rest of your life in prison unless you take the chance given to you by this court”.
He said the nine months jail term he was handing down would run concurrently with a current jail sentence being served by the defendant.
The judge told him: “If you don’t want to spend the rest of your life in prison you need to wise up and do something effective when you get out of prison”.
