Linda Totten
ENNISKILLEN Police officer Linda Totten has been found guilty of shoplifting twice before Christmas 2013, following a retrial at Dungannon Crown Court.
Totten (50) with an address given as PSNI Enniskillen denied two counts of shoplifting in charges dating back almost four years.
She was on trial at Dungannon Crown Court, during which Totten maintained her innocence on both allegations of stealing goods from Asda Enniskillen on 20 and 24 December 2013.
On the second occasion goods to the value of £156.81 were stolen, while the amount from the first incident remained unknown.
It was the second time in as many months Totten stood trial, with the first ending in a hung jury.
At that point Totten was released on bail whilst the case was adjourned to allow for legal directions on whether or not to proceed.
On return the prosecution confirmed a retrial would be sought.
Judge Neil Rafferty QC advised he wanted this “Sooner rather than later and preferably before Christmas.”
However while a date for retrial was set, press were not permitted to report this as defence counsel told the court he had been instructed by his client to have the proceedings “stayed”.
He said Totten belived she could not get a fair trial due to “Widespead unbalanced media coverage of the first trial.”
This brought a reporting restriction on proceedings at that stage.
Press immediately filed a challenged to the allegation of unbalanced coverage, however on the day the matter was to be heard, Totten did not proceed with this.
Instead her defence argued against some points of CCTV evidence uagae in the trial, but this was rejected.
Today, after a total of seven days at hearing, the jury unanimously found Totten guilty.
She made no reaction to the verdict.
Judge Rafferty adjourned the case for the preparation of pre-sentence report. He released Totten on continuing but warned this was no indication of how he would sentence.
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