Man caught cycling with phone box under his jacket

A man who was caught cycling the wrong way down a city centre street with a stolen phone box under his jacket has been jailed for three years.

Austin Byrne, aged 38, was arrested after a garda spotted him trying to steer the bike while holding onto the phone box on Lombard St, Dublin.

It later emerged the phone box had not been in use for several years and most of the coins in it were punts. Byrne had kicked it off the wall of an office building after gaining access through a door which had been left ajar.

Fiona McGowan, prosecuting, told Dublin Circuit Criminal Court that Byrne was arrested and released on bail and two months later was spotted by a garda in Dublin 4 with another man.

Byrne had an iPad hidden under his jacket and his partner had a laptop. The pair were arrested.

Byrne, of Townsend St, Dublin, pleaded guilty to burglary from a Pearse St office block and possession of stolen property on February 11, 2015, and burglary at Percy Lane on April 11, 2015.

Judge Martin Nolan imposed two sentences of 18 months which are to run consecutively.