A man and woman have appeared in court charged with possessing a wedge hammer during the course of an aggravated burglary in Dublin.

The trial of four men arrested during a Garda operation into suspected dissident activity in Donegal last March has heard that images of “men in balaclavas, camouflaged jackets and holding an AK47” were found during a search of a Transit van.

A 40-year-old convicted rapist who answered a text message sent accidentally by a 15 year old girl and then started a sexual relationship with her has been jailed for three years by Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.