A MAN who went on a regional spree of petty crime, and whose offences included the theft of a hair highlighting, of a suit and
shirt, of bottles of wine and various amounts of diesel, ended up in Monaghan District Court on Tuesday.

The man got money from forged cheques and fooled shop assistants into handing over money, stole diesel, food, wine, fancy clothes and even the tyres of a Mercedes car, all in a way that almost guaranteed that he would be caught.

He ended up pleading to 29 separate charges at Monaghan Court, where the judge heard that his spree took in Monaghan, Newbliss, Cootehill, Belturbet, Ballybay, Ballinamore, Dundalk, Navan, Bundoran and Manorhamilton in Leitrim.

In all, ten Gardai were involved in investigating the 19 year-old’s spree of petty crime, and in bringing the 29 prosecutions against him earlier this week.

A total of 14 prison sentences were imposed on Keith McConnell, 12, Emmett Terrace, Navan, all of them concurrent, and he was led away in handcuffs from Monaghan Court on Tuesday to begin ten months in jail. One of the more bizarre frauds he perpetrated
was going into Sophisticuts in Belturbet, where he got a special hair highlight treatment from Lucy Brady and made off without paying, then walking down the street stealing a take-away meal from the nearby Centra.

He hit Knight’s Shop in Cootehill and Browne’s Pharmacy, where he codded Aideen Browne into handing over €5, on the same
day that he went into the Super Valu there and walked out with three bottles of wine.

Evidence was heard, including some from his mother, who said his acts were ‘a cry for help, of what Judge McBride called “a disturbed upbringing”. As well as jail, Mr McConnell was disqualified from driving for five years.