A man who pinched a bottle of alcohol from Aldi while staff were distracted by another shoplifter atthe store has been jailed.

Leonard Brannighan, 34, was on bail at the time when he stole the item at the shop in Saltcoats on May 25.

Brannighan appeared at Kilmarnock Sheriff Court last week and pled guilty to one charge. 

Describing the incident as “an opportune matter”, Procurator Fiscal Depute Stuart McMillan said: “Staff within the store were alerted to a theft. They went outside and while they were dealing with that the accused removed the bottle of alcohol.”

Brannighan’s solicitor Alex Muir said that his client was currently serving a 10-month prison sentence.

Mr Muir added: “Although he’s been in some bother over the years, he’s managed to stay out of bother since 2014.”

Sheriff Michael Hanlon told Brannighan: “What I’m going to do is to impose a custodial sentence. That will be consecutive to the sentence you are currently serving. If it were not for your guilty plea that would have been 15 weeks, instead of 10 weeks.”