Man stole so he could get off heroin in jail

A 40-year-old Cork man deliberately stole perfume in the hope of getting a jail sentence in a desperate attempt to get off heroin.

Noel Crean, with a previous address at Kilquane, Mourneabbey, Co Cork, yesterday pleaded guilty. Judge James O’Connor, at Cork District Court, imposed a jail term of five months.

Solicitor Diarmuid Kelleher said the accused had gone to England in the hope of getting off heroin. He said it had worked to some extent when he got a job but when the work ran out the defendant reverted to heroin use. He said Crean was now ravaged by the effects of heroin and had lost a lot of weight.