Tyrone man jailed for ‘litany of offending’

Twenty-eight-year-old Brian Paul Ward from The Glen, Stewartstown Road, Coalisland, pleaded guilty to a series of theft, dishonesty, motoring and drugs charges when he appeared at Dungannon Magistrates Court on Wednesday.

Bail was fixed and the defendant was released pending an appeal against the custodial sentence.

Imposing the sentence, District Judge Michael Ranaghan remarked that “too much of this sort of offending goes on in the country” and it would send out the wrong message if he did not impose an immediate period of custody in this case.

Mr Ranaghan also imposed a driving ban on Ward of two and a half years in respect of a driving while disqualified charge.

The judge said the defendant was guilty of “a litany of offending” and he took into consideration that Ward had breached deferrals made by previous courts.

A prosecuting lawyer told the court the incident involving the elderly victim happened on a date between February 25 and 27, 2019.

Ward was also sentenced for incidents in March 2018 relating to the theft of £113.49 from Tesco; causing criminal damage to a car; possessing Class B drugs, and handling stolen goods, a TV.

He was also dealt with for stealing household goods, totalling £145.98, from Home Bargains on March 6 2019, and stealing protein, valued £14.99 , on January 15 this year.

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