Sex offender stole woman’s underwear

A convicted sex offender who harassed his neighbour by following her into her apartment and ordering her to give him her underwear has been jailed for 18 months.

Padraig Hopkins, aged 41, who has been on the Sex Offenders Register since he was sentenced to four years in prison in 2008 for a false imprisonment and a sexual assault charge, also took the woman’s bra and knickers from the laundry room in the apartment block and wore them before asking her what she thought.

Hopkins, of The Glen in Waterford, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to harassing Rutha Sventriata on June 26, 2014, at Leinster Road, Rathmines.