A former British soldier has been jailed for 10 years for being in possession of cocaine valued at €50,000 for sale or supply in Dublin.
Paul Fitzgerald (47), of Orwell Mews, Rathgar, pleaded guilty to having the cocaine for sale or supply at his home on March 25th, 2004.
Judge Frank O'Donnell, of the Dublin Circuit Criminal Court, told Fitzgerald he was a man with a, "history of serious crime" behind him. "I see no exceptional circumstances and I am going to impose the mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years".
He earlier heard that Fitzgerald has nine previous convictions in England for offences including possession of illegal drugs, forgery, arson, handling stolen property and possession of firearms.
Det Garda Tom Barber earlier told Fergal Foley BL, prosecuting, that on foot of confidential information gardaí searched Fitzgerald's home and found 720 grams of cocaine, a packing machine and a pressing machine.
Det Gda Barber said the cocaine had a market value of €50,000 and the machines were used to mix and pack the white powder into packages for sale.
Det Gda Barber told Mr Michael O'Higgins SC, defending, that Fitzgerald's role was to mix and pack the powder, for which he was paid €1,000.