25-year-old without any money got himself arrested

Michael McGinley, of Strabane Old Road, threw a tin of paint over the front wall of Strand Road PSNI station.

Damage was also caused to a car parked inside the station.

The 25-year-old admitted theft and criminal damage on June 12.

Derry Magistrate’s Court heard that McGinley went into the enquiry office and made admissions.

Defence solicitor Seamus Quigley said ‘this was no political statement and he was not trying to create some piece of art’.

He told the court his client was ‘trying to get arrested’ because he was ‘completely out of money’.

Mr Quigley said McGinley’s benefits had been changed and it ‘required him to live on fresh air’.

‘This led him to make the calculated decision that the most stable environment for him is prison’.

Jailing McGinley for two months, District Judge Barney McElholm said ‘something is very wrong when it gets to this’.