released from prison where he had served about three years for robbery.

Richard Dill, 30, of no fixed abode, was released from Westgate Correctional Facility on January 11 and pleaded guilty to stealing a bottle of Scotch whisky from a Somerset supermarket on Thursday.

The court heard that Somerset MarketPlace assistant manager Eulene Brangman saw Dill enter the store at about 5.25 p.m. on Thursday and make his way to the liquor aisle.

As she approached him she saw him stick something down the front of his trousers and promptly exit the store. She and another assistant manager chased after Dill but lost him.

At 10 p.m. on Thursday, Police officers acting on information they had received attended the MarketPlace and arrested Dill who was outside the store.

A search revealed that he had a one litre bottle of Dewars White Label worth $32.30 stuffed down his trousers. Dill told the court he had been sent to Westgate for five years in September, 1995 for robbery.

He was released on January 11 and had been drinking the day he was arrested.

He also told the court that he was due to start work on Monday.

Senior Magistrate William Francis fined him $100 for stealing and ordered Dill to pay $100 he owed for a fine he received before he went to prison.