A DUBLIN man who pleaded guilty at the Special Criminal Court to possession of explosives in his north Dublin home last September has been remanded to a District Court to allow the court to consider a suspended sentence handed down for another offence.
Joseph Conlon (23), St Anne’s Drive, Raheny, pleaded guilty in February to the unlawful possession of explosive substances. These included a rectangular plastic Tupperware box containing 55 firework fuses; a round plastic Tupperware box containing 130 grams of firework pyrotechnic powder; a mortar and pestle; three Roman candle fireworks; a plastic tool box containing bulbs, wires, a pipe cutter, pliers, a file and a roll of solder, and a plastic bag containing match heads and empty firework wrapping.
The Special Criminal Court was told yesterday that Conlon’s last conviction was at Swords District Court in February 2008 when he was given a three-month prison sentence, suspended for two years, for a public order offence.
Judge William Hamill, one of the three judges, said that under the law, Conlon must be sent back to the District Court to allow the judge to consider activating the suspended sentence before the Special Criminal Court could sentence him.
Det Garda Robert Reilly of the Special Detective Unit told the court that gardaí investigating the movement of explosive devices for the IRA in the Dublin area searched Conlon’s family home.
Conlon accepted responsibility for the lunch boxes and the other items.
The court remanded Conlon to Swords District Court next Tuesday and, after his case is dealt with there, he will be returned to the Special Criminal Court for sentencing.