A barman who stole £205 from the tills in the Pat's Bar in Enniskillen where he was working, after getting drunk during his shift, has been jailed for three months.

Richard James Storey, had his sentence suspended for two years, he was also fined £150 and ordered to repay the money to his employer. The court heard the 21-year-old, from Shanco Road, Clogher, was working as a barman in Pat's Bar, the Diamond, Enniskillen in May this year. On the night in question, Storey had been working in the upstairs bar in the premises. When the night was over, staff were cleaning up the bar, another staff member emptied the two tills with £150 in each.

The prosecution claimed Storey returned to these two tills a number of times over the course of the night, each time taking money out of them, to a total amount of £205.

When the owner of the premises, Eoin O'Hare, became aware the money had gone missing, CCTV footage of the night was viewed, from which the defendant was identified stealing the money.

Mr O'Hare reported the matter to police and confirmed Storey did not have permission to float the tills or to remove any cash from them. When arrested for the offence, Storey was shown the CCTV footage and confirmed it did show him removing money, and he admitted he did not have authority to do this. Storey told police he had consumed alcohol during his shift and had no recollection of taking the money, that he had discovered it in his pocket the next morning. The defendant then said he had panicked as he didn't know what to do with the cash, so he had lodged it in his bank account.

Defending solicitor, Michael Sides described this case as a breach of trust, and said his client is 'very deeply ashamed' of himself. Mr Sides told the Court his client intended to leave Fermanagh in the next few weeks to go and work in Spain: "He has no idea what caused him to commit the crime. He accepts this is a breach of trust, that there is a threat of prison and his liberty is in jeopardy." The RM Liam McNally told Storey for this type of crime, the court must look at an immediate custodial sentence. However, he said the defendant had a clean record, had pleaded guilty at the first opportunity, and had repaid the money. On this basis, Mr McNally decided to suspend the sentence for two years.