Supermarket thief stole £2,000 of cosmetics and razors

Gerard O’Neill carried out high-value raids on Tesco and Asda stores in Co Antrim, using fire exits to make escapes.

Belfast Magistrates’ Court heard the 29-year-old also spat on a prison officer and smeared excrement on cell walls while detained.

A defence barrister claimed he was the “fall guy” for crimes committed alongside others.

O’Neill, of Abbeyglen Crescent in Newtownabbey, pleaded guilty to two counts of theft, motoring offences, criminal damage and two assaults on custody officers.

Electric razors and blades valued at £961 were stolen from an Asda branch in Ballyclare on December 4 last year.

Prosecutors described a separate theft of cosmetics worth £1,184 from Tesco in Crumlin on February 21.

On both occasions the men involved filled bags and left the stores through a fire escape.

O’Neill further admitted a burglary offence at a closed Spar store in Newtownabbey on January 7 this year.

He was identified on CCTV footage showing a man entering and stealing food from the shop while an accomplice held deactivated doors open.

On being arrested O’Neill stated: “This is over a packet of sweets.”

In another incident last November he was due to be brought to court from Musgrave police station in Belfast. O’Neill became aggressive, spitting in the face of one custody officer and injuring another on the leg.

When he was moved to cells at the Laganside court complex he smeared excrement over the walls and urinated on the floor.

District Judge Fiona Bagnall ruled that O’Neill should be given immediate custody.