Five years for woman who stored arms for criminals at her home

A "naive young woman" who was storing pipe bombs, a shotgun, ammunition and drugs at her Finglas home for criminals has been sentenced to five years in prison at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.

Laura Creighton (aged 22), who has no previous convictions, was storing the pipe bombs under her bed in the family home, along with cocaine and ammunition in her wardrobe and cannabis and a shotgun in the hot press.

Creighton, of Barry Park, Finglas pleaded guilty to possession of two home-made bombs, a double-barrelled sawn off shotgun and 26 rounds of Luger nine-milimetre ammunition on January 18, 2008.

She also pleaded guilty to possession of cocaine valued at €8,000 and cannabis valued at €2,000 for sale or supply on the same date.

Judge Frank O’Donnell said at the sentence hearing last year that he found it hard to understand how someone who had never come to Garda attention before could come before the court on such serious charges.

He said he had "no option" but to impose a five-year sentence because he said Creighton had effectively been caught "red-handed". He suspended the last three years, taking into account her lack of a criminal record, her admissions to gardaí and the fact that she no longer uses drugs or alcohol.

Garda Keith McGrath told Ms Karen O’Connor BL, prosecuting, that gardaí found the items when searching the house on suspicion that there may be cannabis on the premises. Creighton was arrested and admitted responsibility for all the items found in the house.

Creighton told gardaí she had been a drug addict in the past and had run up a "drug debt".

Garda McGrath agreed with defence counsel, Mr Patrick Marrinan SC (with Ms Ann Rowland BL), that she was holding the items for others and that no one in her family had a criminal history.

Mr Marrinan said a psychiatric report on Creighton outlined her "chaotic family background". He said her parents were both heavy drinkers and there was "great destruction in the family". Her mother left the family home and has little contact with her daughter.

He said she worked for a time after leaving school but had been smoking cannabis since the age of 13. Her drug use escalated into ecstasy and cocaine and the death of a friend heightened her addiction.

Mr Marrinan said she became determined to give up drugs in 2007 and had used her time in custody over the last year well. He told the court she was "facilitating others and has suffered the consequences of her naivety".