Suspended term over police lift

A man who threatened to smash windows after police refused to give him a lift from Belfast to Ballymena has received a suspended jail sentence.

Liam Finn, 47, told officers he was going to damage property so they would arrest him and give him a bed for the night.

Belfast Magistrates Court heard Finn issued his threat after failing to arrange transport on New Year's Day.

A defence lawyer said he had failed to gain entry to lodgings in Delhi Street.

A prosecuting lawyer said Finn had asked police to take him to Ballymena, only to be told this was impossible.

A defence solicitor said his client, who is a father of four, made the request because he did not want to spend the night on the streets.

He said Finn was seeking to get to a friend's house in Ballymena after discovering a bar had been put across the door of his accommodation on Delhi Street in Belfast.

"That's why he went to police, to see if they could assist in transport arrangements," he said.

Imposing a prison sentence of two months, suspended for a year, District Judge Fiona Bagnall gave Finn credit for pleading guilty.

However she stressed that police services were "busy enough" and could not "be used as a transport service".

"If he comes back to this court again with that type of offence he will have that sentence imposed," she said.