Belfast man with 247 previous convictions is jailed again

A Belfast man with nearly 250 previous convictions has been jailed again for violence against two police officers.

Kieran Kelly is to serve four months behind bars after pleading guilty to assaulting the PSNI constables amid efforts to get him somewhere to stay.

The 52-year-old, of University Street, also admitted a further charge of disorderly behaviour. Sending him to prison, District Judge Peter King highlighted his 247 past convictions. "It's certainly one of the more striking criminal records I have had to deal with either at the bar or on the bench," he said. Kelly was arrested following an incident in the city's Townsend Street area on August 18th.

Belfast Magistrates’ Court heard police had been alerted to a highly aggressive and drunk man. He told officers he had nowhere to live, with the assaults said to have been committed as they tried to find a local hostel for him.

Kelly had been out on bail pending sentencing, with a condition that he was not to take any alcohol. However, he was returned to custody after being found, apparently drunk, on the edge of the M1 motorway.