A BURGLAR who unwittingly ransacked the home of a senior loyalist paramilitary last year on the Twelfth of July has been jailed for six months.
Jonathan Sloan stole laptop computers, a television, smartphone, clothing and cash after breaking into the east Belfast house.
Threats against him and his family since the raid have made his life a misery, his lawyer said. Sloan (22) of Graymount Parade, Newtownabbey, pleaded guilty to a single charge of burgling the Isoline Street property.
Belfast Magistrates Court heard the victim returned home to discover the break in.
Along with the computers and TV set an Adidas tracksuit top and £800 in cash was taken.
Sloan was linked to the break-in through a fingerprint match.
In a plea for leniency, his barrister said: "This defendant had the misfortune to select a house owned by a senior paramilitary to burgle. "As a result of that he has been threatened and his family has been threatened. "His life has been made a misery but he accepts the consequences of his actions. That continues to this day."
District Judge Fiona Bagnall was told Sloan made denials at an earlier hearing due to the presence of some people in court.
Judge Bagnall rejected calls for a suspended sentence saying that the offence warranted immediate imprisonment. "The house was turned over and he took a large amount of items which were not recovered," she said.
Noting Sloan's previous record for burglaries, she ordered him to serve six months behind bars.