Liam Lawlor’s arrival at Mountjoy Prison today ended a morning of cat and mouse tactics with media, enabling the Dublin West TD to start his week long prison sentence away from the glare of the cameras.
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The ominous front gates
of Mountjoy Prison - Liam Lawlor dodged the media and entered through the back door |
Crews of journalists and photographers, trying to second-guess Lawlor’s movements, had gathered in likely locations across Dublin in the hope of catching him before his 2 p.m. deadline - when he was due to present himself at Mountjoy prison.
From early this morning the media camped outside Lawlor’s home - Somerton House in Lucan, Co Dublin - awaiting his departure to the ‘Joy’ or the Supreme Court to lodge an appeal against his sentence.
At the Four Courts, the media circled, endeavouring to track down Lawlor’s legal team and any attempt to appeal the High Court sentence to three months in prison and a £10,000 fine.
Mr Justice Smyth directed on Monday that Lawlor serve a week of the sentence, but suspended the balance. But their wait was in vain as no appeal was lodged.
Meanwhile, rumours that Lawlor may present himself to gardaí at Lucan Garda Station sent another media brigade to Lucan Village - cameras on the ready. As Lawlor’s local constituents looked on, and gardaí hovered, journalists grew colder but none the wiser as to his whereabouts.
While some of the onlookers were clearly amused by such a spectacle, other members of the Lucan community were aghast at the controversy their representative had brought to their doors.
But even the most curious of spectators left the siege to the journalists when an hour turned into three (for some) and still no sign of the TD.
Mobiles rang and rumours flew as speculations on Lawlor’s plans catapulted from location to location, newsroom to newsroom.
The departure of a car from the Lawlor residence sent many journalists scurrying from one potential destination to another, only to be told later that cars were being used as a decoy to throw the media off the scent.
But the morning's vigil of foot stomping brought no reward, as Lawlor entered Mountjoy through the back entrance, evading TV lenses, cameras and microphones. A man renowned for never turning off his mobile phone, successfully stayed out of the limelight, outwitting the media as he took up his week's residence at Mountjoy.