Bangered up! Sausage roll thief jailed for nine months

A SAUSAGE roll thief has been jailed for nine months after he pleaded guilty to a number of offences.

Limerick District Court heard that Dermot Calvert stole two sausage rolls and a bottle of moisturiser with a total value of €4.35 from Dunnes Stores on May 23 last year.

The 21-year-old, who has 53 previous convictions, told the court he had no memory of it as he was addicted to prescription tablets and used them ‘as a crutch in life’.

Sergeant Donal Cronin told Judge Aeneas McCarthy that Calvert was also before the court on charges of trespassing at the back of a house owned by an elderly man in June last year and of having a filed-down car key used for the theft of vehicles on August 17 last.

Prosecutions relating to allegations of trespassing and burglary, which Calvert had been remanded in custody on since last September, were struck out by Judge McCarthy after the State applied to withdraw the charges.

The court heard that the accused came from a family of 15 but three of his siblings had died from cystic fibrosis and that his previous offences began when he was ‘unsupervised’ during his early teens. He has convictions for theft, causing criminal damage, assault, trespass and failing to appear in court.

Since being remanded in custody, the 21-year-old, of Fairview Crescent, Garryowen, Limerick, had come off tablets and was determined to make a better start in life, Tom Kiely, defending, said.

Judge McCarthy convicted Calvert and sentenced him to a total of nine months for the offences and backdated the jail term to when he was remanded in custody last September. In the event of an appeal, Judge McCarthy set recognisance at €600, one third of which was to be lodged to secure bail.