A Belfast man who stole nearly £1,500 worth of vacuum cleaners and was then caught supplying drugs outside a courtroom has avoided prison.
Christopher Harmon received a six-month suspended term in total for the separate offences. The 28-year-old, of Bruslee Way, was convicted of the theft of nine Hoovers from Homebase in Newtownabbey.
Belfast Magistrates’ Court heard two men were involved in the raid on October 21 last year. Stock valued at £1,431 was stolen. Six of the vacuums were abandoned and fit for resale, but the other three were never recovered.
Defence barrister Declan Quinn submitted that his client was part of a joint enterprise which involved another individual actually going into the shop. Harmon was also dealt with for a separate incident of supplying Class C and possessing Class A drugs.
According to the prosecution he was slumped on a seat at Laganside Courts in Belfast on March 3 this year when a woman asked him for a strip of blues. Police observed her put a £10 note on his chest before a quantity of diazepam was handed over.
When Harmon was arrested an amount of suspected cocaine was found in his underwear. Mr Quinn claimed the defendant had been badgered for drugs.
“Unfortunately there was an off-duty police officer sitting beside him who witnessed all this,” counsel added.
“While it’s a supply of drugs we are not talking about a street dealer.”
With the barrister stressing that Harmon was himself now drug-free, District Judge George Conner suspended the prison term for 18 months.
