Garden centre intruder 'was pricing up trees'
A man told magistrates that he was inside a locked garden centre in the middle of the night because he wanted to price up items for his garden.
Dylan Arthur McColm, 46, was found inside the Coed Y Dinas garden centre on the edge of Welshpool on April 6 after setting off the alarm.
Mr Stephen Davies, prosecuting, told Welshpool magistrates that police found McColm "curled up in a ball under the bottom shelf of a display rack dressed in a green mack and wellies".
He said: "The police constable shone his torch and was amazed to see the defendant under the shelves. He said he decided to go to Coed Y Dinas to price up a tree.
"He had a black hat and head torch and gloves with him. He was arrested on suspicion of going equipped for theft and being found in enclosed premises and taken to the police station where he also admitted he had taken items from Tesco previously."
McColm, of Oldford Rise, Welshpool, admitted charges of going equipped for theft, being found in enclosed premises and theft of a garden log worth £4.
He had previously denied the charges and had been due to stand trial this week.
A report by the Probation Service stated that McColm has a number of health issues, including being in remission for cancer and suffering from diabetes which sometimes caused him to become confused.
Magistrates fined McColm £20, ordered him to make a £100 contribution to costs and to pay a £60 surcharge.
They also placed him under a 12-month community order to include 15 days of rehabilitation.
