Repeat offender jailed for £60 Co Antrim meat theft

Laura Nicholl, 23, was ordered to serve a month behind bars for the raid on a Spar outlet in Carrickfergus, Co Antrim.

A judge at Belfast Magistrates’ Court also imposed a further month of a previously suspended sentence for an earlier theft.

Nicholl, of Rosebrook Grove in Carrickfergus, stole the meat products from the shop at Middle Road on March 15.

CCTV footage is believed to have identified her at the scene.

She pleaded guilty to the theft at her first court appearance on the charge on Monday.

In a plea for leniency, a defence lawyer stressed the early admission.

But District Judge Fiona Bagnall pointed to Nicholl’s previous convictions and how other efforts to stop her offending had failed.

The total two-month sentence she passed included part of a suspended term imposed less than two months ago.

As Nicholl was led to the cells her friends in the public gallery appeared shocked at the outcome.