Man (57) was ‘put under pressure’ to store drugs

A 57 year old Drogheda man who was ‘put under pressure’ to store drugs was also found to have material consistent with pipe bombs at the rear of his home, Dundalk Circuit Court was told.

Gardai arrived at the home of John Traynor, Marley’s Court, Drogheda on December 10th 2018 with a search warrant.

The accused admitted to officers that there were drugs in an upstairs bedroom, and upon searching the room gardai found substances in plastic bags which appeared to be amphetamines, or ‘speed’.

Gardai also searched outside the house, in a garden shed, and discovered material which included long ‘green strings’ which they believed might have been used in the making of pipe bombs.

Officers also searched in bushes and found a plastic bag buried in the growth, which contained a length of pipe inside.

Gardai deducted that these were likely to be components of a pipe bomb, along with the string in the shed. Fuses were also discovered at the scene, which it later emerged where ‘ crude’ firework fuses.

The court was told that neighbours were evacuated from their homes as a resulot of the discovery, and a specialist unit were called to inspect the items discovered. Ultimately they were found to be safe.

When arrested, Mr. Traynor told gardai that he had found the bag on the hedge and ‘didn’t know what to do with it.’ He said he didn’t think it was an explosive device, and didn’t believe it to be dangerous.

He said he ‘ should have got rid of it’ but was ‘afraid who it belonged to.’

The court was told that the accused had faced difficulties after the death of his wife.

He said he was ‘put under pressure’ to keep the four bags of drugs, saying ‘ They knew I had a funeral bill to pay.’

When gardai asked if anything could be done, he answered ‘ 24 hour protection.’

But he said he had ‘nothing to do’ with the criminal feud going on in Drogheda.

The court heard that Mr. Traynor had begun using drugs at the loss of his wife in 2018.

Judge James McCourt was told the accused had a number of ‘ historic’ convictions including for firearms offences in the mid 1990s, and other offences in the 1980s.

The accused was said to be a ‘very low level’ member of the scene in Drogheda.

The court was told he ‘fell into the clutches of suppliers’ and property was being utilised to store drugs.

Judge McCourt said it appeared his ‘vulnerability’ was being exploited by unscruplous people.

The accused had written a letter of apology to the court, saying that at 57 years old, he accepted that he ‘should have known better.’

The court was told he is seeing a drug rehabilitation counsellor, and that he is drug free.

Judge MCourt adjourned handing down sentence for 12 months to afford him time to attend drug and bereavement counselling.