Man (43) with 473 convictions jailed for burglaries

Eamonn Lynch appeared at Letterkenny court charged with number of thefts last year

A man with 473 previous convictions has been jailed for five months for a series of burglaries in Co Donegal.

Eamonn Lynch appeared at Letterkenny District Court charged with a number of thefts between July and September last year.

The court was told Lynch stole a generator worth €400 from Cross, Killygordan on September 6th.

He also broke into two other homes on July 18th and stole a laptop, mobile phones, car keys and other items.

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Lynch (43), and two other suspects, were disturbed during one of the burglaries and ran into fields where they were arrested.

Det Michael Galvin gave details of the break-ins and Lynch's arrest. He said Lynch initially denied knowledge of the burglaries before eventually making admissions.

Solicitor Frank Dorrian said his client had a serious drug and drink dependancy but had been sober for the past three months.

Garda Insp Michael Harrison said Lynch had a total of 473 previous convictions in Northern Ireland, more than 50 of which related to burglary and 280 of which were for traffic offences.

Judge Paul Kelly sentenced Lynch to five months in prison.