Man to spend Christmas in jail over unpaid hotel bills

The man who treated himself to a Christmas holiday at the five-star Hayfield Manor and leaving without paying his bill of over €3,000 and similar offences totalling €3,000 at two other Cork hotels and a guesthouse over the holiday period last year will spend this Christmas behind bars.

Mark Howell, aged 36, was jailed yesterday for 18 months with the final 12 months suspended.

Referring to the accused doing a runner during his sentencing earlier this month, Judge Seán Ó Donnabháin said that did not augur well for the defendant’s chances of committing to rehabilitation.