Man jailed for stealing rental car fitted with tracking device

A chronic drug addict who stole a rental car fitted with a tracking device has been jailed for four years.

Alan McDonagh (33) was tracked to the N7 by gardaí­ after stealing the hire car a short time earlier in Dublin city centre.

He pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to burglary and unauthorised taking of a car at Camden Street Upper on September 8th, 2017.

The court heard that when the victim realised the car had been stolen he contacted Europcar and gardaí­ used tracking information to follow the car around Dublin.

The court heard McDonagh became addicted to heroin at the age of 16 and has spent more than half of his life in custody.

McDonagh, of Market Mews, Maryborough Village, Portlaoise, Co Laois, has 173 previous convictions, including 31 for burglary.

Counsel for McDonagh cited a probation report describing him as having a “disarming, self-deprecating sense of humour” and a “particular charisma”.

Open door

Garda David Corcoran told Noel Devitt BL, prosecuting, that in the stolen car case, the victim had returned to his home on Camden Street to discover an open door and some furniture items moved.

He discovered designer sunglasses and car keys were missing and realised that his rental car, which had been parked around the corner, was also gone.

Gardaí­were alerted and intercepted McDonagh on the N7 near Naas a short time later. McDonagh had been on bail at the time for other offences.

Judge Melanie Greally accepted that McDonagh wants to become drug free. She suspended the last year of a five year prison term on condition that he keep the peace for that period.

She also ordered that he engage with the Probation Service for 12 months after his release and remain drug and alcohol free.