A mythology has developed around Stephen "Rossi" Walsh for being a "hedge-lawyer", running a type of legal consultancy and advising people on charges.
In 1993 he was jailed for 15 years for the arson of Collins's pub at Ballybough Road, Dublin. Gardai found him in the ruins of the premises. He conducted his own defence.
He had previous convictions for larceny, armed robbery and assault, including two for armed robberies in 1977 and 1978 for which he received suspended sentences.
For more than 20 years, Walsh had engaged in a battle of wits with detectives, and his present sentence was greeted with a sigh of relief by gardai.
In April 1994 Walsh had two years added to his sentence for assaulting three women and two teenage girls in 1993.
Although anecdotes about Walsh were legion around Dublin, he first came to public attention in February 1993 when a Circuit Court judge named him as the "malign name" who ran a "dial-a-witness service" and was behind a number of bogus claims coming before the courts. The judge said Walsh was the mastermind behind an insurance fraud involving staged traffic accidents.
However, it is his legal advice to fellow prisoners and court challenges which have added to his legendary status. He has appeared in the High Court several times over the years, making applications on behalf of himself or other prisoners.
Walsh is a native of the Dublin south inner city and was linked with the Pearse Street/Ringsend and Irishtown areas. A married father of three, he had an apparently prosperous lifestyle although he was never known to have worked.