A FORMER professional footballer has appeared in court charged with two counts of burglary and dishonestly receiving stolen goods.

Christopher Byrne, aged 31, of Barrack Street, Hulme, is accused of breaking into a room in the Holiday Inn, Beaumont Road, Bolton, on March 28, 2006, and stealing a woman's coat and a bottle of perfume.

He was also charged in connection with a break-in at a plumbing merchants in Chorley, on November 29, 2005, and handling a stolen Mercedes van which was used in the raid. He had been arrested by police on Monday.

Byrne, who used to be a striker for Sunderland, Macclesfield Town and Stockport County before his footballing career was cut short by injury, entered no plea when he appeared at Bolton Magistrates Court yesterday.

He was released on conditional bail to appear at Bolton Magistrates Court on March 7 for committal to Crown Court.