A Maguiresbridge man has been sentenced to a total of nine months in prison at Fermanagh Magistrates Court where he appeared on a dishonesty charge.

William Joseph May (42) with an address at Tattinderry Heights in Maguiresbridge was sentenced to six months in prison for the charge of dishonestly retaining certain stolen goods namely a cheque while the activation of a three month suspended sentence means he now faces a total of nine months in custody.

In evidence the court heard that on 16th July the theft of two chequebooks was reported to police in Enniskillen. Police received the serial numbers of the cheques.

On 17th July last year police were called to an address in Maguiresbridge where a Mrs Parkinson reported that her partner had come home with a cheque she was suspicious of.

On 28th July police again called to the same address and this time the defendant, who was present, was arrested for handling stolen goods.

The defendant admitted to having the cheque in his possession saying that he got it from a youth in the pub. He said he suspected it was stolen and thought, by taking it, he was doing someone a good turn not to get anyone else in trouble.

Defending, Garry Smyth said his client was no stranger to the court and pointed out that he had a suspended sentence hanging over him for an offence of a similar nature.

Mr Smyth said his client was a 42 year old male who hadn't got into trouble with the law until he reached his 30s.

Mr Smyth said there were deep seated alcohol problems and also said that when his client drinks to excess his resistance of getting into difficult situations is reduced.

The defendant foolishly accepted this cheque even though he knew it wasn't genuine. In mitigation, Mr Smyth said it had been seven months since his client last came to police attention telling the court the defendant has taken steps to moderate his drinking patterns.

Sentencing, Resident Magistrate Liam McNally told the defendant he had a long record for a number of similar offences and looked to a court appearance last February when he was sentenced to six months in prison. Then, in September, he was sentenced to a suspended prison sentence.

For the offence before the court Mr McNally imposed six months in prison while activating the suspended sentence to run consecutively totally nine months in prison.Following an application for leave to appeal the sentence bail was set at £400