Dublin criminal who had cut up man’s body is sentenced on drugs charge

A Dublin criminal who was convicted of dismembering a man’s body and dumping it in a Dutch lake has been sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison for drugs possession at Longford Circuit Criminal Court.

Philip County (33), of Edgeworthstown, Co Longford, was sentenced by Judge Keenan Johnston after County pleaded guilty to possession of cocaine and MDMA with a total street value of €7,298 during an armed raid at his home in Edgeworthstown, in October 2017.

The Dubliner had previously been released on bail in May when he was informed by Judge Johnston that he was facing a three-year prison sentence with final two years being suspended.

County’s bail was, however, revoked just weeks later when it emerged he had a conviction at the Amsterdam Court of Appeal from May 2017.

The terms of that sentence related to County’s conviction of being a co-perpetrator in the concealment, removal and disposal of a corpse in Amsterdam.

In May 2017, County and two other men were sentenced to two years in prison for hiding the dead man’s body in 2009, but County had already served part of that time while on remand in a Dutch prison.

In light of the Amsterdam conviction, Judge Johnston remanded County in prison in June until his reappearance in court yesterday for sentencing.

The court was told that when gardaí­ had called to County’s home in Edgeworthstown they found 71g of cocaine, 33g of MDMA and 30 MDMA tablets with an overall street value of €7,298.

The court heard a probation report carried out on County while in custody found him to be at high risk of reoffending and detailed his “criminal associations”, attitude towards offending, substance misuse as well as emotional and personal issues.

Judge Johnston also referenced Mr County’s previous conviction in the Netherlands and noted how he told probation officers of the incident.

“The accused was involved in a very serious crime in Holland in respect the body of a deceased person was dismembered by him with the help of some other associates,” he said.

“In the probation report, the accused indicated that the individual involved had been murdered while he was away from his apartment and when he came back he assisted the other parties in disposing of the body.”

The court heard that County still had eight months left of a 21-month sentence to serve in the Netherlands for that incident, with Dutch law enforcement officials likely to seek his extradition to serve out the remainder of that sentence upon his release from Irish prison.

Judge Johnston referenced Mr County’s “prior convictions” of which he has over 50, including a number for drugs and firearms.

The court further heard how gardaí­ have since warned County his life is under threat from unnamed criminals.

In mitigation, Judge Hughes said County’s early guilty plea had saved the State “the time, cost and expense of a criminal trial” while also commenting on his “forthright” admissions and co-operation with probation officers.

He sentenced County to five years in prison with the final two-and-half years suspended on condition he enter a €500 bond to keep the peace and be of good behaviour for 10 years.