Andrew Meneice, 33, appeared at the store in County Antrim last July. He pleaded guilty to resisting a police officer but contested charges relating to assaults on the store detective and being disorderly.

At Coleraine Magistrates Court he was found guilty of one assault and of being disorderly. He was sentenced to four months’ imprisonment but has appealed and was released on £500 bail.

District Judge Liam McNally said: “You paraded around with a sheep, you were making comments about not buying Lidl lamb. You had no right to be in there with the sheep.”

Lidly store detective David Bennett told the court he saw a “male with a sheep on a lead” enter the supermarket and in the ensuing scuffle tackled him to the ground, prompting Meneice to threaten he would “kill” him.

The judge noted that the sheep had begun nibbling at food as Meneice made “pedantic” comments about Lidl’s animal policy.

Judge McNally banned Meneice from taking Chops into Lidl and warned him that this didn’t mean he could take the sheep to Tesco or Sainsbury’s. The ban was extended to include any retail business except a “sheep mart”.