Year in jail for man with 170 previous convictions

A RECORD of more than 170 previous convictions was mentioned in the case of a 34-year-old man before the District Court to admit a series of fresh offences.

Committing some of these crimes while on bail led to a year in jail Paddy Connors from Melrose Court in Wexford.

The District Court sitting in Ardcavan recorded convictions on the father of a three-year-old boy for crimes which included trespass, shoplifting, burglary and criminal damage.

All charges were met with a plea of guilty and an apology was offered to everyone who had been affected by his crimes.

In April, Connors entered a staff locker room in Whites Hotel, stealing a jacket with a brooch and cash.

In June, he went around the back of the presbytery in Wexford town without permission and was found trespassing in a shed.

In August, he was recognised by the shop’s management as the man who stole a t-shirt priced at €50 from DV8.

In September, he was back in Whites, this time removing a lap-top computer from a private office.

Solicitor Tim Cummings said his client’s crimes were committed to feed a drug habit.

The court was told that Connors was now drug free since being detained in prison.

Judge Gerard Haughton noted that five days after receiving a suspended sentence for theft, the defendant was thieving from DV8 when the ink was scarcely dry on his bond undertaking to keep the peace and be of good behaviour.

The second incident at Whites followed shortly after that.

It appeared that suspending sentences had no effect on the defendant.

Consecutive sentences of six months added up a year in prison.