Men threw cement bags at chasing Garda car

Two men in a stolen van driven by a 16-year-old girl at high speed tried to evade capture by a chasing Garda car by dumping a keg of beer, wooden crates, three bags of cement, a hammer, and two wooden planks in the path of the car.

At Ennis Circuit Court, Judge Carroll Moran said that “there was some sort of comic element to the chase and reminds one of an old black and white Ealing comedy”.

However, Judge Moran said that the 17km chase across north Clare in Feb 2011 was a very serious matter “and could have caused serious damage to the garda who was driving alone in the patrol car following them”.