A dodgy tradesmen who left vulnerable pensioners feeling “annoyed, hurt, angry, embarrassed, upset and manipulated” when he “hoodwinked” them was spared jailed today.
While Stephen Stewart walked out of Antrim Crown Court after his 12 month jail sentence was suspended for three years, Judge Roseanne McCormick KC said that was only because he had spent the equivalent of a 30 month sentence on remand.
With the suspended sentence “hanging over the head of the defendant to strengthen his resolve not to lapse into old ways and practices”, the judge gave a clear warning to the 49-year-old that if he re-offended the 12 months could be activated in addition to any other sentence.
