Priest who hired men to issue death threats loses sentence appeal

A priest jailed for hiring men who said they were from the Continuity IRA to issue death threats and intimidate his nephew into dropping a legal action he was planning against him, has lost an appeal against sentence.

Francis Kelleher, aged 60, who had been residing in Cork City, had pleaded guilty to four counts of coercion in relation to compelling his nephew to abstain from doing an act he had a lawful right to do on dates between June 2012 and January 2013.

He was sentenced at Cork Circuit Criminal Court to four years imprisonment by Judge Seán Ó Donnabháin on April 30, 2015.