Man pleads guilty to attempted abduction of teen girl

A MAN has pleaded guilty to the attempted abduction of an Offaly teenaged girl as she cycled to her friend’s house on a summer’s evening earlier this year.

At Mullingar Circuit Court, Dermot Murphy, of Atlantic Coast Apartments, Riverstown, Tramore, Co Waterford, pleaded guilty to three offences committed at Moyclare, Ferbane, CoOffaly, on July 19.

He was arrested earlier this year, following reports that a man in a white van had pulled up beside the 13-year-old and engaged her in conversation before trying to pull her into it. She managed to escape following a brief struggle.