10:21 am, March 9, 2023
A former Charles Hurst employee has been jailed for six months after stealing four tyres from the dealership where he once worked.
Tomas Chlebus, 37, was identified from CCTV footage of two men who had broken into the Portadown site, according to Armagh I.
Police were alerted to the break-in, which happened in November 2021, and were told two men wearing tracksuits had been seen there, but they’d already disappeared by the time officers arrived.
When police got in touch the next day, the manager of the dealership – part of the Car Dealer Top 100 Lookers Group – told them four alloy tyres worth £350 had been taken.
He also told police that one of the men captured on CCTV was Chlebus and that he’d not only viewed cars at the dealership the same day but had worked there for 18 months as well.
The dealership was able to give the registration number of the vehicle that Chlebus drove, which police seized after discovering it was uninsured.
Chlebus, who appeared before Craigavon JPs via videolink from Maghaberry Prison, admitted theft and using a motor vehicle without insurance.
In mitigation, the court was told that Chlebus, of Cline Road, Banbridge, had pleaded guilty at the ‘very earliest’ chance.
The court was also told he had ‘very significant difficulties’ with alcohol when the offences took place, following the breakdown of his marriage in 2019.
But Armagh I reported District Judge Bernie Kelly as noting that Chlebus’s record showed he’d had alcohol problems since 2007 – 12 years earlier than the marriage problems.
The court was then told by the defence that Chlebus’s alcohol addiction had got worse during that period but Chlebus hadn’t drunk alcohol since June 2022.
Armagh I also reported that Chlebus had been sentenced by JPs for stealing a bottle of alcohol on the same day. No details of the sentence were given.
Judge Kelly said there had been some ‘breach of trust’ as Chlebus had once worked at the dealership.
She jailed him for six months for theft and one month – to run concurrently – for driving without insurance. Chlebus was also banned from driving for a year.
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