A thief who broke into a city centre theatre has now been sentenced after being tracked down by police.
Michael Walsh stole an expensive bottle of alcohol from Nottingham Playhouse after managing to get inside the premises.
The burglar invited himself into the venue, in Wellington Circus, Nottingham city centre, shortly before 7.15pm on 2 July 2024.
At that point, Walsh got his hands on a large bottle of Disaronno – valued at more than £125 – before then fleeing from the scene.
The 48-year-old’s identity remained a mystery until he was spotted once again hanging around near the same theatre on Tuesday (23 July).
Police were called to the scene minutes later and – after conducting a search of the area – managed to quickly locate the man they were looking for.
He was duly arrested for the break-in, at which point he was found to have a small quantity of cannabis in his bag too.
Having been charged with burglary and possessing Class B drugs, Walsh appeared at Nottingham Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday (24 July).
Walsh, of Ash View, Radford, pleaded guilty to both charges and was sentenced to 34 weeks in prison, suspended for 18 months.
He was also made to complete a drug rehabilitation requirement course and ordered to fulfil 10 rehabilitation activity requirement days.
Sergeant Christopher Johnson, of Nottinghamshire Police, said: “Walsh will have known perfectly well that what he was doing was wrong, but he still decided to go through with it.
“Burglary is a very serious crime, whether it to be targeting another person’s home, a place of business, or a private venue like in this incident.
“Nobody has the right to break into someone else’s property, or to steal items that don’t belong to them.
“Walsh did both of these things during this incident, so we’re pleased to see he’s now been caught and sentenced for his actions.”