Jail suspended on assault of reporter

A drug addict who told News of the World crime journalist Paul Williams that his books were “s**t” and “just back issues of the…

A drug addict who told News of the Worldcrime journalist Paul Williams that his books were "s**t" and "just back issues of the Sunday World", before making a threat to assault him, has received a three- month suspended sentence at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.

Colin Harvey (31), Leo Fitzgerald House, Dublin, pleaded guilty to assault and use of threatening and abusive language on September 8th, 2005.

Det Sgt Mark Kavanagh agreed with Pádraig Dwyer, defending, that Mr Williams had written articles about the flat complex in Dublin’s south inner city and told gardaí he visited the location.

In handing down the three-month suspended sentence, Judge Frank O’Donnell said that it had been “unfair” to leave the charges “hanging over” Harvey for five years.