A ROMANIAN man arrested in Belfast for defying a deportation order has been jailed for four months.
Iulian Amalitei (53) claimed he returned to Northern Ireland desperately seeking work to support his family.
Sentencing him, a judge said public confidence in the criminal justice system must be maintained.
Amalitei appeared before Belfast Magistrates' Court charged with illegal entry to the UK.
He was detained after being recognised by police on patrol at High Street in the city on Thursday.
Amalitei, who had been deported for the same offence last year, admitted the new charge.
His lawyer stressed that the defendant, with an address at Victoria Street in Belfast, was only trying to help his family.
"He wanted to send some money home for his daughter as his wife is not working," he said.
Acknowledging Amalitei's plight, District Judge George Conner said: "I have no doubt that behind every case of this type there's a sad and desperate story."
But jailing him for four months, Mr Conner pointed out that he was in breach of a suspended sentence for the same offence.
