A judge said yesterday she was "horrified" at some of the media coverage of the case of a teenage boy charged with stealing £37,500 from a security van.
Judge Catherine Murphy warned that there was to be no more filming of probation officers involved in the case outside the court or she would have the reporter involved brought before her. She was referring to the filming by RT╔ of probation officer, Ms Anne O'Farrell, who had given evidence at a bail hearing leading to his release with a number of conditions.
Less than a week later he breached the conditions and was remanded back into custody until yesterday. The 16-year-old was back yesterday before the court where his solicitor, Mr John Fitzgerald, said the boy wanted to remain in custody because of pressures on him on the outside, including the media. The boy cannot be named as he is under 17.
Yesterday, he asked to be held in St. Patrick's Institution rather than Cloverhill and Judge Murphy agreed. Earlier, she also agreed to a request from his co-accused in the alleged security van robbery, Mr Synott Brennan (20), Sean Treacy House, Dublin, to be held in St. Patrick's. Both are to appear again on the robbery charge in four weeks. Mr Fitzgerald, who represented both accused, said he wanted to reiterate concerns about the media coverage of the 16-year-old. Judge Murphy said she had heard some of the coverage herself. "I was horrified at the distortion of the facts and inaccuracy in certain media reports which did not give the full story."
She was displeased that the rehabilitation centre where the boy had stayed had been mentioned again despite her order that it should not be. She was also concerned that the probation officer in the case had been filmed outside the court.