Last updated at 11:03, Monday, 26 January 2009

TWO men were caught breaking into a Barrow newsagents by police, a court heard.

Steven William Westwood and Michael Gibney were jailed after pleading guilty at Furness Magistrates’ Court to entering Church Street Newsagents as trespassers last Sunday.

Mr John Appleby, prosecuting, said a woman walking on the opposite side of the road from Church Street Newsagent at around 6pm saw three men, with one man trying to prise the metal security screen off the door.

The woman alerted police, who arrived to see Westwood looking in the door but he fled on foot and was arrested at his home.

Officers heard a smash from inside and arrested Gibney as he climbed out of the front door of the newsagents.

When interviewed he said he had been having relationship problems in Manchester and had come to Barrow, where he had lived as a child, the day before.

He said he had drunk alcohol and taken valium and temazepam for depression. He had been walking past the newsagents, saw cigarettes and food inside and decided to break in.

Mr Appleby said: “The proprietors were called and they reported that the damage caused to the front door would cost £250 and about £500 worth of cigarettes were missing.”

Westwood said when interviewed that he had drunk four litres of cider, borrowed money of his mother and bought another three litres of cider, which he also drank.

Mr Steve Evans, defending Westwood, said it had been £100 worth of cigarettes, but it was accepted that custody was inevitable.

Mr Trystan Roberts, defending Gibney, said: “It is fair to say he had had something to drink and had taken medication which had affected his mind and acted as a disinhibitor.”

District Judge Gerald Chalk told Westwood: “Custody must follow because these are serious offences, most of which were committed on bail.”

He told Gibney: “I take a serious view of this matter.”

Westwood also pleaded guilty to stealing a bottle of Glenfiddich whisky worth £20.42 from Asda on November 17 last year, an LCD television from Asda worth £138.48 on November 28 last year and being in possession of heroin in Barrow on December 30 last year.

Westwood, of Adelphi Court, Storey Square, Barrow, was sentenced to 14 days in custody for stealing the whisky, 28 days for stealing the television and seven days for the heroin possession, all to run concurrently, as well as 105 days for the burglary – 133 days in total.

Gibney, of Whitburn Road, Manchester, was sentenced to 84 days.

They were both ordered to serve half their sentences in custody and half in the community.

First published at 11:52, Saturday, 24 January 2009
Published by http://www.nwemail.co.uk