Matthew Slate ( 37) of Carrowshee Park, Lisnaskea appeared at Enniskillen Magistrates Court last Wednesday for sentencing on two count of theft, relating to two separate incidents last year. 

On April 9 last year police received a report of a man entering Lidl in Lisnaskea and stealing a power tool, worth £59.99. 

Slate was identified using CCTV, and when police called to his house he failed to answer the door, so they had to force their way into the property. Inside the house they found a jacket and trainers that he was wearing on CCTV, but they didn’t locate the power tool, which was never recovered. 

The second charge of theft related to April 22, when a store assistant at Curry’s in Enniskillen told them a man had come in, taken a Samsung tablet worth £399.99, put in his pocket, and left the shop without paying for it. 

Slate had initially denied taking the tablet, but was convicted of the offence after a contest that was previously before the court. 

Defence solicitor Tommy Owens said a pre-sentence report on Slate was positive, and showed the incidents happened when his client was suffering from a serious drug addiction, which he has since addressed. 

Mr Owens said Slate was also prepared to pay for the items he’d stolen, but it would take some time to do so as he was in receipt of benefits. 

District Judge Nigel Broderick said Slate, who is currently subject to a community service order had a very bad record for theft, with five previous on his record, and said he’d come very close to being sent straight to prison, citing the positive aspect of the pre-sentence report and the remorse shown by Slate as the reason he was not imposing and immediate custodial sentence. 

He sentenced him to 150 hours community service, as well as six months in prison suspended for two years. Judge Broderick also fined Slate to pay compensation to both Lidl and Currys for the items stolen.