A 35-YEAR-OLD man who committed a litany of theft and motoring offences over a nine-month period as his life “spiralled out of control” last year has avoided going to jail after staying out of trouble for the last three months.

Michael James Boyd, of The Diamond, Tempo, was charged with stealing a bicycle to the value of £150 and various items of food worth £35.55 from Tesco on August 26 last year, and stealing a bottle of wine belonging to Asda Enniskillen on October 21 last year.

The 34-year-old was also charged with using a motor vehicle without insurance at Main Street, Derrygonnelly, driving with excess alcohol on his breath and not having a valid driving licence on January 6 this year.

He was further charged with stealing a bottle of vodka from the Costcutter store in Tempo on March 20 this year, as well as five more counts of stealing a bottle of vodka from the same shop on dates between May 15 and May 28 this year.

At Fermanagh Magistrates Court in August, district judge Nigel Broderick decided to defer sentencing in the case for three months to allow the defendant an opportunity to address his mental health and alcohol addiction issues.

The judge observed at that hearing that the defendant's lifestyle appeared to have “spiralled out of control” in the last year, adding that this situation would only change if the defendant engaged with the relevant statutory bodies in a sincere manner.

Defending solicitor, John Quinn, told the court on Monday that his client had “done well” in the intervening period and hadn't re-offended, although he conceded that Boyd's engagement with the psychiatric and alcohol awareness team had been limited.

The solicitor said that, prior to these offences, the defendant's last conviction had been in 2005. He added that it had now been six months since he last offended.

Mr Quinn said that, given his pattern of behaviour in the prior year, Boyd was entitled to credit for that.

District judge Mr Broderick observed that the defendant was clearly someone who was “struggling severely” with alcohol addiction, which had given rise to these offences.

Taking into account that there had been “some limited engagement” with various agencies, the judge said he would not jail Boyd but leave something hanging over his head.

On all the theft charges, Mr Broderick imposed concurrent six-month prison terms, which he then suspended for 12 months.

He also imposed a six-month jail term, suspended for 12 months, for drink-driving and a further one-month custodial term, also suspended for 12 months, for not having insurance.

These suspended sentences are concurrent with the ones imposed on the theft charges.

Meanwhile, the judge also imposed a five-year driving ban on the defendant and ordered him to pay compensation to the various injured parties totalling £263.54.