A heroin addict who was on bail when he robbed a 90-year-old widow of her necklace and wedding rings has been jailed for 10 years by Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.
Glen Lynch locked Mrs Mary Quinn in her bedroom after pulling four rings from her fingers and ripping out her phone. Gardai rescued her eight hours later after noticing that her back door was open.
Judge Elizabeth Dunne told Lynch that his crime begged the question: "How low can you go?". She added that she wanted the message to go out that the courts would not tolerate crimes against the elderly.
Lynch (21), of Russell Street, Dublin, pleaded guilty to false imprisonment and robbery of Mrs Quinn in October 1999 and robbery of Mr Lon Willet, a Canadian, on January 12th, 1999. He was on High Court bail for a burglary at Clonliffe College, Drumcondra on September 30th, 1998.
Judge Dunne imposed a three-year sentence for the Clonliffe College burglary and a seven-year consecutive sentence for the robberies he committed while out on bail.