Prolific shoplifter granny began crime spree just 24 hours after release from custody
A recidivist thief with more than 100 previous convictions, began a spree of thefts less than 24 hours after she was released from police custody, a court has heard.
Ballymena Magistrates Court also heard on Thursday, that Deirdre Anne McKeown used two different BMWs to commit the thefts in Ballymena and Ballymoney.
Appearing in the dock 58-year-old McKeown, from the Ballymoney Road in the town, confirmed she understood the eight charges against her, committed between 29 April and 2 July this year.
McKeown, a one-time diagnosed kleptomaniac who has 134 previous convictions, almost half of which are for theft, was charged with three counts of theft, four counts of going equipped for theft and one of careless driving.
Giving evidence during a contested application for bail, a police officer said he believed he could connect McKeown to each of the charges, adding that police were objecting to bail due to the risk of further offending.
Deirdre McKeown
News in 90 Seconds - July 11th
Highlighting that McKeown was only freed from police custody on 28 April over an alleged theft a few days earlier, he told the court it was the following day when she drove to the Spar on the Milltown Road in Ballymoney.
Carrying a large shopping bag, she put various items in the bag and then left without making any effort to pay.
Having dumped those items into her BMW, 'she went back into the Spar and committed the same offence, in the same way' before leaving again.
The next day, she was back at the Spar but this time, she was using a leather shopping bag to steal 'mostly BBQ meats and other grocery items.'
McKeown left but as she tried to drive away in her car, the manager stopped her and after a conversation, she made as if she was pulling over but she then cut across several lanes of traffic 'before driving off at speed.'
On May 23, the court heard, officers stopped her driving a different BMW and a search of the vehicle uncovered six 'security de-tagging hooks' but she was allowed to go on her way.
There were further, similar thefts at Poundland in Ballymena and after McKeown was arrested at her home on Wednesday, she admitted the theft and the driving offence.
Applying for bail, defence counsel Craig Patton revealed that at one point, McKeown had been diagnosed as a kleptomaniac but that diagnosis has since been rescinded.
He highlighted however that clearly, 'there is a significant mental health background' and although he submitted that conditions could be put in place to address police concerns, District Judge Nigel Broderick disagreed.
Remanding McKeown into custody, the judge said 'in my view, there is a high risk of reoffending and I am not satisfied that that imposition of conditions will address those risks.'
McKeown will appear again on 7 August.
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