DPP seeks tougher jail sentence for burglar with 121 convictions

Serial criminal trapped doctor’s wife in bedroom

Half of his term was suspended

STATE prosecutors are demanding a tougher prison sentence for a serial burglar who trapped a woman in her bedroom before being chased down the street by her husband.

Michael Lynch, 34, who has 121 convictions, was on temporary release from prison when he climbed through the surgery window of doctor Vincent Carroll – and came face to face with his terrified wife, Margaret, in an upstairs bedroom.

Undeterred, the criminal rifled through her handbag. When he left the bedroom, she chased after him.

Lynch ran down the stairs, pushing past Dr Carroll, who had just returned home.

Lynch ran out of the house and Chase: Dr Vincent Carroll Dr Carroll chased him for more than a mile. He called the gardaí as he ran and they rushed to help.

‘They were very professional. There was a bit of a scene when he was caught,’ Dr Carroll told the Irish Daily Mail.

Dr Carroll said he could not believe it when he heard that Lynch had so many previous convictions.

‘How on God’s earth can you accumulate so many convictions in a short life?’ he asked.

Upon his arrest, Lynch was found to have the Carrolls’ property, including credit cards and about €200 in US dollars and Czech currency, Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard.

Lynch, of Emmet Place, Inchicore, Dublin 8, has 121 previous convictions – including 16 for burglary, and others for handling stolen goods, robbery and failing to appear in court.

On Sunday, February 26, 2017, Lynch was out on temporary release for separate charges when he entered Dr Carroll’s surgery in Dublin 4.

In October 2017, Judge Patricia Ryan jailed the father of three for 18 months after he pleaded guilty. Although the judge gave him a three-year sentence in principle, she suspended half of it. With standard 25% remission, he walked free from prison last month, in time for Christmas.

Lynch is currently back behind bars, having been charged with a further burglary for which he got a four-month sentence earlier this month. With remission, he’d expect to be out again by early April.

But Director of Public Prosecutions Claire Loftus is hoping to keep him in jail for longer.

Today she will launch an appeal, under Section 2 of the Criminal Justice Act 1993, against what she deems the ‘undue leniency’ of his punishment.

Court of Appeal president George Birmingham, sitting with judges John Edwards and Brian McGovern, will hear the appeal.

paul.caffrey@dailymail.ie