Healthy honey was stolen to feed an unhealthy habit

A MAN who stole two jars of Manuka honey from a health food shop in Limerick has anything but a healthy lifestyle, battling...

A MAN who stole two jars of Manuka honey from a health food shop in Limerick has anything but a healthy lifestyle, battling as he is with a serious addiction problem which drives him to crime, a court heard.

James Kelly (37), of 4 Maple Court, Kennedy Park, Limerick, pleaded guilty before Limerick District Court to a charge of stealing the two jars of honey from the Holland and Barrett health food shop in Arthur’s Quay on January 6 of this year.

Judge Catherine Ryan heard that Mr Kelly was captured on CCTV taking the expensive honey and leaving without paying for it. The products were not recovered, the court heard.

Mr Kelly has 90 previous convictions, 36 of them for theft and is currently in custody serving a sentence of four years and six months for robbery.

That sentence had previously been suspended but was activated when he was convicted of a subsequent offence.

Mr Kelly had pleaded guilty in the District Court in recent weeks to taking four designer handbags, worth €900, from the Brown Thomas department store on December 10 last year and €350 worth of handbags on another date (December 6). Mr Kelly was identified on CCTV on that occasion also and the goods were not recovered.

This was the offence which caused the suspended jail sentence to be activated.

Addressing the court about the honey theft after Mr Kelly’s guilty plea, his solicitor said Mr Kelly’s crimes were frequently committed “in concert with others”.

Mr Kiely said that his client has a long-standing addiction problem along with an intellectual difficulty, which makes him an easy target for encouragement into criminal activity.

“He was often ‘first in’ in the commission of a crime by a group,” said Mr Kiely. “He steals to feed his addiction.”

Judge Ryan sentenced him to one month jail for the theft of the honey.