A Connah’s Quay man stole £520 from a takeaway restaurant shortly after being released by the police.

After hearing that the officers had helped Michael John Hughes find somewhere to spend the night, District Judge Gwyn Jones, sitting in Llandudno, said it was “a very unusual set of circumstances”.

Solicitor Craig Hutchinson told the court that Hughes, 40, was arrested for a domestic incident and when he was released at 1am on July 25 officers took him to the Travelodge at Northop, which was closed.

They then took him to the Chester Travelodge, where he was asked to pay £180. The officers left him there, but he decided to walk to his father’s house.

By chance, he spotted the door and shutter of the Ewloe Kebab and Pizza House open, and CCTV showed him taking some alcohol, before returning and taking cash from the till.

Prosecutor Diane Williams said the manager of the premises accepted that the door may have been left unlocked.

When he was arrested shortly afterwards, Hughes had only a few pounds on him but he admitted stealing £520.

Sentencing him to 26 weeks’ imprisonment, suspended for 12 months, the District Judge said there was clearly an issue over whether the premises had been locked or not.

Hughes, of Dodds Drive, Connah’s Quay, was ordered to carry out 120 hours of unpaid work and £85 court costs, as well as £520 in compensation.