A serial thief who stole high-value meat products from convenience stores in Belfast to fund his drug habit has been jailed for 12 months.
James Paul Brady (33) targeted retailers across the city by taking more than £800 worth of steaks and beef packages.
Prosecutors revealed that facial recognition technology was used as part of efforts to apprehend him for the shoplifting spree.
Brady, of no fixed abode, was convicted of nine thefts and a further attempted theft.
Belfast Magistrates Court heard that all but one of the offences were committed on dates in August last year.
They included twice taking multiple sirloin steaks from a Eurospar in Ballyhackamore, and similar raids on other branches of Mace, Tesco Express, Spar and The Range.
On one occasion Brady fled with a bag containing 10 packets of meat after his presence was detected through specially installed equipment,
“Facial recognition technology at the Spar notified staff that he was in the store,” a Crown lawyer said.
Police also identified him from CCTV footage at the scenes of other thefts.
Brady stole a total of £744 worth of goods during August, with less than £200 of the products recovered.
In a separate shoplifting case, he took steaks valued at £76.99 from the shelves of Spar at Sunnyside Street on March 3 last year.
Defence barrister Luke Curran confirmed his client had not been stealing for food.
“He was selling (the meat) to get drugs,” counsel said.
Mr Curran told the court Brady has suffered from attention-deficit hyperactivity and developmental disorders since childhood.
But Deputy District Judge Peter Prenter insisted: “There might be impulsive behaviour but he clearly knew what he was doing.
“He was stealing meat products because he knew that he could sell them on to fund a drug habit.”
Imposing nine months custody for all of the thefts, Mr Prenter added on a further three months from a previous suspended sentence.
He told Brady: “Effectively, I’m giving you a year in custody.”