A Belfast youth released from prison within months of being jailed for four years arising out of the September 2007 brutal murder of 65-year-old greengrocer Harry Holland, was back in court to plead guilty to a catalogue of crimes committed within weeks of being freed.
Patrick Joseph Steven Crossan, from Hillman Street, who turned 20 on Wednesday, admitted a total of eight charges including burglary, aggravated vehicle taking, drunk, dangerous and uninsured driving all on 10 October last year.
Crossan, originally from Willowbank Gardens, Belfast, deemed to be a "high risk" offender when jailed in July last year for affray and possessing a knife the night Mr Holland was stabbed in the head with a screw-driver, was freed two months later in September because of time already served while awaiting trial.
On Wednesday, Craigavon Crown Court Judge Patrick Lynch QC remanded Crossan back into custody until sentencing next month.
No details of Crossan's latest crimes were given to the court except when prosecuting lawyer Ms Nicola Auret asked for a slight amendment to the burglary charge.
Ms Auret revealled that Crossan had been at a party in the house that evening when a bedroom door had been smashed and the keys to the Nissan Qashqai were stolen.
However, the prosecution, she said, could not say whether Crossan had left the party and had later returned to the north Belfast house as a trespasser, or if the bedroom was broken into during the party.
Defence lawyer Jon Paul Shields asked Judge Lynch to allow more time before sentencing so further reports on Crossan, in addition to the normal social inquiry reports, may be obtained.
When jailed last year Crossan had originally been charged with the murder of Mr Holland along with 18-year-old Stephen McKee from Ballymurphy Road, Belfast, and a teenaged girl who cannot be named.
While McKee was jailed for life, with a minimum 12-year term for the murder, the charge was dropped against Crossan and the 17-year-old girl, who both admitted affray.
When jailing Crossan, whose IQ places him in the bottom 4% of the population, Mr Justice Weir said while he needed and met the criteria for help and supervision from probation "to protect the public", Crossan was unwilling to accept such help.
© UTV News