'Elf' lingerie thief jailed for two years

A Carrickfergus lab technician who dressed as a female elf to steal underwear from a Belfast shop has been imprisoned for two years.

Robert Boyd, 45, wore a Harpo Marx wig, beanie hat and glasses to hold up a female member of staff with a knife at the Orchid shop on the Lisburn Road.

Boyd told the court he had been involved in a role-playing game when the robbery happened in December 2005. He also claimed he might have blurred reality and fantasy.

A defence lawyer asked for leniency and described Boyd as a figure of ridicule, who had lost his job and his wife. It was also claimed he had been suffering from depression when the robbery took place.

Judge Lynch told him that while he may have “convoluted your character with that of Buho the elf” at the end of the day, he had "to get back to the basics – it’s a very serious offence with very serious consequences.”

He also told the 45-year-old he must take responsibility for his actions.

Referring to the female member of staff, who had been on her own at the time of the robbery, he said she had been terrified.

“She said: ‘He was standing there with a knife like a kitchen knife, standing there holding the knife towards me horizontally,” the judge said.

“She was not actually physically harmed by virtue of what occurred. But I have read the statement from the injured party and it’s clear she has suffered mentally.”

Boyd, who was found guilty of stealing two sets of bras, knickers, suspender belts and stockings worth £250, was ordered to serve a further two years of probation.

(JM/KMcA)