Man who threatened to cut priest's fingers off avoids prison

A man with a religious persecution disorder who followed a parish priest into a sacristy with a knife and threatened to cut off his fingers has received a fully suspended sentence.

Mark Halligan (aged 45) of Mountainview Park, Rathfarnham, Dublin pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to making a threat to kill or cause serious harm at a church in Balally, Dundrum, on September 11, 2016.