A 27-year-old man who broke into and stole items from his mother's home when she was on holiday in Blackpool was jailed yesterday for five months.
Stephen Hargan of Cornshell Fields in Derry admitted the offence when he appeared before the city's Magistrates' Court.
A PSNI inspector told the court that Hargan committed the offence on August 5th, 2005. When interviewed by police, he said: "It's my ma's house, how stupid is that?"
The inspector said the defendant's mother discovered that her home had been broken into after she returned from her holiday in Blackpool in England.
"Her kitchen window had been forced open and she found that her DVD and £10 in cash had been stolen. There was a bag of used beer cans and the remains of a takeaway meal in the house and her bed had been slept in. Blood samples taken from a kitchen cupboard matched the defendant's," the inspector said.
Resident magistrate Barney McElholm jailed Hargan for two months and also revoked a consecutive three months' custody probation order which had been imposed for another offence.