A company director who handled £61,000 worth of stolen mobile phones has been ordered to do 180 hours of community service by Judge Elizabeth Dunne at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court. Shane Lyons (33), of Carrickwood, Firhouse, Dublin, pleaded guilty to having the Startac phones on December 10th and 11th, 1997, knowing them to be stolen. They had been offered to him by a major criminal who was now serving a prison sentence. Judge Dunne imposed a two-year suspended sentence on Lyons.
Mr Brendan Grogan, defending, said his client had been approached by a man with the offer of the phones. This man later showed him the phones in the boot of a Mercedes car parked outside a pub.