Prison for man with €1m worth of heroin in shed

A 32-year-old father of two who was caught holding just over €1m of drugs in his garden shed has been given an eight-year sentence.

Stephen Reddington of Wheatfield Ave, Clondalkin, Dublin, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to possession of heroin for sale or supply on November 21, 2011.

The court heard that when gardaí arrived to search his home, Reddington told them there were no drugs in the house but showed them out to a shed in the back garden and pointed out a large number of cylindrical containers containing the drugs. Mixing agents were also recovered.

The case had originally been dismissed by Judge Mary Ellen Ring in 2013 after she ruled she was not satisfied the search warrant was granted in accordance with law. This was overturned in the Court of Appeal.

Judge Melanie Greally said the seizure was towards the top end of the scale but accepted there were exceptional circumstances.

She accepted Reddington had been an abuser of cocaine but did not accept he was someone with a severe addiction. She noted he has taken steps to address the issues in his life which contributed to his role in the offence and he was now clean of cocaine. She noted as a result of his “interaction with the drug fraternity” he had been a victim of violence.

Judge Greally imposed an eight-year sentence and suspended the final three years.

Garda Kevin Dingley told Vincent Heneghan, prosecuting, Reddington had told gardaí the drugs were in the shed “because of him”.

Fingerprints were found on some of the items seized. He said Reddington had 28 previous convictions.

Kieran Kelly, defending, asked the court to take into account his client’s guilty plea after the charge was reinstated and the fact he had taken responsibility for the drugs.