Ireland's answer to Goldilocks allegedly entered woman's home, ate food and slept in her bed

Appearing at Newry Crown Court by videolink from his solicitor’s office, 22-year-old Lee Heaney entered a not guilty plea to the single charge against him.

Heaney, from Mullaghcreevie Park in Armagh, is alleged to have burgled a neighbouring property on 15 December last year where he stole “food stuffs.”

Previous courts have heard it was a case of ‘who’s been sleeping in my bed’ when the shocked homeowner came back from her shopping trip and found Heaney tucked up and fast asleep in her bedroom, completely naked.

Foregoing porridge, he had allegedly helped himself to a chicken burger and alpha bites with some brown sauce.

When Heaney first appeared last December, a police constable outlined how cops were called to a “possible burglary” and when officers got to the property, the female homeowner told them she had come home “to find a male sleeping, naked, in her bedroom under the blanket.”

“He was chased from the property and whilst he had been there he had helped himself to food and drink from the kitchen,” said the cop adding that Heaney, whose birthday falls on Leap Day in February, had gained entry through an unlocked back door.

“He did not have permission to go in,” said the cop who told the court Heaney was arrested near by.

During questioning, it transpired that rather than pretending to be in a classic fairy tale or anything sinister, Heaney’s explanation was that he had “a few drinks in him” and thought the house belonged to his sister who lives a few doors down.

“I was drunk….I thought it was my sister’s house so I went to sleep and then that woman came in and woke me and I sprinted up and realised it was the wrong house,” Heaney told the interviewing officers.

In court on Tuesday prosecution and defence counsel told Judge Gordon Kerr QC there would be evidence from three witnesses at the trial which will only take a day or two to hear.

Freeing Heaney on bail, the judge scheduled the trial to begin on 5 October.