Phone thief jailed after tables turned

The victim in a mobile phone mugging turned the tables on his attacker by tackling the man to the ground and taking his phone instead, a court has heard.

Gardaí were later able to identify the thief from videos he had of himself when his victim handed his phone in to Clontarf Garda Station.

Blaine Coakley, aged 27, of Lourdes House, Gloucester Place Upper, Dublin, was jailed for two years after pleading guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to theft of a mobile phone on the North Strand, Dublin, on January 21, 2014.