Shop thefts accused is remanded in custody

A DEFENCE solicitor yesterday asked a judge to ban his client from all of the shops in Londonderry.

Derwin Harvey made the request to District Judge Oonagh Mullan during a special sitting of the Magistrates’ Court in Derry.

Mr Harvey represents 36-yearold father of one David Canning, from Durrow Park in the Bogside area of the city.

The defendant has been charged with stealing women’s underwear, perfume, make-up, duvets and other items, valued at almost £1,600, from the Boots shops at the Foyleside Shopping Centre and at Crescent Link in the Waterside, as well as from the Range store on the Buncrana Road.

The defendant, who is alleged to have committed the offences between March 26 and May 25, has 20 previous criminal convictions for theft and he is also alleged to have committed some of the new offences while under a suspended sentence and while on probation.

Applying for the defendant to be released on bail, Mr Harvey proposed banning him from entering any shop in the city as part of other court-imposed bail conditions.

“Quite simply, if he enters any shop he will have breached his bail and he can be arrested and returned to custody,” Mr Harvey said.

“It will be a strict and onerous bail condition for him to abide by and it can be applied to other bail conditions, such as a curfew and alcohol ban as well as signing on in the police station.”

Opposing bail, a police officer said that banning the defendant from all shops would be almost impossible for the police to monitor.

She said that after his arrest last Friday the defendant told the police he had consumed Xanax and alcohol prior to entering the Range store.

District Judge Mullan said she did not believe that the defendant would abide by any bail conditions and she remanded him in custody until June 24.