A court has heard how when gardaí arrived at a house in Limerick to execute a warrant for an Irish man, wanted in England for importing drugs worth over €1.4m they found him at his kitchen table preparing a separate massive drugs consignment.

A man is to face trial charged with aggravated burglary at a house, where three occupants including a pregnant woman were allegedly threatened with a butcher's knife in their beds.

Three elderly siblings were left battered and “covered in blood” after two armed and masked men burst into their isolated farmhouse and robbed them, Limerick Circuit Court heard today.

A former Christian brother who would "lick" his pupils ears while sexually abusing them in class, has been found guilty by a jury of 15 counts of indecent assault.

A former Christian brother would "lick" pupils ears clean, and fondle their privates, a court heard.

A mother who had been recovering from breast cancer yesterday relived, along with her husband and their four young children, a night of terror when an armed gang burst into their rural home in Co Limerick.

Former associates will link three men, two from Dublin, to aggravated burglaries in Co Limerick during which neighbouring families were allegedly overpowered by an armed gang, a jury heard yesterday.

The judge told the accused to "pull yourself together" after he broke down in tears.

A family visit to a sick relative at University Hospital Limerick turned violent when a man was stabbed by his brother-in-law near the busy main entrance, a court heard.

A woman recalled yesterday that when she was 13, she was left naked during a game of strip poker with a man married to her older sister.

A judge has ruled that handwriting experts were wrong in concluding that the signature on the will of a bachelor farmer from Limerick was a forgery.

A judge has ruled that handwriting experts were wrong in concluding that the signature on the will of a bachelor farmer from Limerick was a forgery, writes Jimmy Woulfe.

A member of an Eastern European gang that robbed high-end fashion wear and thousands of euro worth of expensive perfumes in night- time raids in Munster was yesterday jailed for five and a half years.

"He was effectively caught red handed," the detective said.

"He treated me like an animal, like a dog. I was frozen solid with fear. He said if I told anybody, God would take my mum and dad and it was my fault."

A former primary school teacher has been found guilty of indecently assaulting one his pupils.

After a rape attack in a school toilet, a teacher took his young victim to meet an international sports star as a treat, a court heard.

A man charged with falsely imprisoning the son of a post mistress and demanding a ransom for his safe return, has been refused bail.

Despite threats to his personal safety, Limerick State solicitor Michael Murray never flinched from his duty and responsibility to uphold the rule of law through difficult times in the city, a judge said yesterday.

A Limerick criminal who knocked down a garda and rammed a bus and two garda patrol cars, whilst driving a high-powered stolen BMW, told gardaí after his arrest: "I'm addicted to fast cars".

A former manager at Advance Pitstop stole cash and cheques from his employer to pay off a criminal gang after he developed a €800-a-day cocaine habit, Limerick Circuit Court has heard.

Comments posted on Facebook sparked a family feud which erupted in a violent battle on the main street of a town between "cousins, aunts and uncles", Limerick Circuit Court has heard today.

An expert in document examination who served as a handwriting forensic investigator at Garda HQ for over 25 years, told Limerick Circuit Court yesterday the signature on the will of a bachelor farmer was a forgery. His evidence backed that of two other experts.

A man was "accidentally" shot in the face and seriously injured by armed gardai when they intercepted an international "professional" burglary gang in Co Limerick, a court heard Friday.

A garda handwriting expert told Limerick Circuit Court yesterday she found strong evidence indicating that the signature on the will of a bachelor farmer was not his.

A Limerick man has been jailed for eight years after abducting a "vulnerable" youth at gun point and attacking him with a claw hammer.

A Limerick man involved in running a children's charity in Africa has been jailed for six years for the sexual defilement of a 13-year old girl.

A Limerick mother of four young children attacked a man with a bottle during a house party with such ferocity that doctors feared he would not survive the brain injuries that he received.

A couple, both drug addicts, were jailed yesterday for a total of nine years for attacking an elderly Limerick man who was out walking as part of his exercise regime before undergoing heart surgery.

An insurer refused to pay out a €30,000 claim after a house fire in Moyross, Limerick, as the man had failed to declare criminal links.

A large quantity of beef was contaminated with faeces and other dirt in a Kerry abattoir before it was shipped out to a customer, a judge ruled yesterday.

A Limerick man in his 60s out walking as part of his exercise regime before heart surgery was knocked to the ground by a woman who went through his pockets before making off with his wallet containing €200, the court heard.

A punch thrown by a “big powerful rugby player” had such force that the brain of his victim bounced from side to side inside the skull and only surgery at University Hospital Cork saved his life, a court heard.

A woman recalled yesterday to a jury how a “really close” business friend of her father stated sexually abusing her when she was just 13.

A Limerick man has been found guilty of indecently assaulting a boy at a Kerry holiday home 36 years ago.

The sentences handed down at Limerick Circuit Court on December 15 to two cousins, who were involved in a burglary in which the bachelor homeowner died of a heart attack when he went to challenge the intruders, is to be appealed by the DPP as unduly lenient.

A drug addict who threatened to shoot a 13-year-old schoolboy during a 20-minute crime spree while high on drugs has been jailed at Limerick Circuit Court.

Two criminals, both with long lists of previous convictions, ignored pleas for help from a dying man’s sister as they fled from his home which they had just burgled. They have now been jailed, but could be due for release within 16 months.

A taxi driver lured by a customer to an isolated rural road has since been afraid to work at night as a result of his ordeal, a court has heard.

After a period of prolonged antisocial behaviour during which the windscreen of his car was smashed twice, a middle-aged law abiding Limerick man snapped and in a state of drink-fuelled delusion tried to set fire to the home of a completely innocent neighbour, a court heard.

A Latvian woman living in Limerick married a Pakistani man — despite being already married, a court heard yesterday.

A mother of six was fined €100 at Limerick Circuit Court after she admitted marrying a man while still married to her first husband, writes David Raleigh

Limerick would be the last place one English visitor would return to if he ever came back to these shores, a judge said yesterday.