Plague of robberies ‘shatters local trust’

A plague of rural robberies and burglaries have shattered the trust on which the foundations of rural society are built, a Circuit Court Judge said yesterday.

Judge Keenan Johnson was speaking in Portlaoise Circuit Court at the sentencing of three men who were arrested after two garda vehicles were rammed by a stolen jeep at Cloncourse, Mountrath, Co Laois, on July 12, 2016. During the course of the arrest, four gardaí were injured.

Thomas McInerney, aged 40, of Twomey Park, Mountmellick, Co Laois, his brother Gerard McInerney, aged 38, Moonbaun Close, Mountrath, Co Laois, and their cousin William McInerney, aged 37, Newline Close, Mountrath, admitted possessing stolen property at Cloncourse, Mountrath on July 12, 2016.