A young woman who got a job offer as a result of a radio programme from the new women's prison at Mountjoy has had the balance of her robbery sentence suspended by Judge Dominic Lynch.
Judge Lynch said in view of Ms Julie Ann Stokes' "excellent progress" while in prison, and that under the law he had to have regard for rehabilitation, he would suspend the balance of her sentence. Mr Raymond Farrell, her counsel, told Dublin Circuit Criminal Court she revealed an ambition to become a motor mechanic when she took part in a RTE Radio 1 programme from the new women's open prison at Mountjoy this year.
Shortly afterwards, she got a phone call offering her the chance of an apprenticeship with a garage. Her mother, Ms Bernadette Stokes, told Judge Lynch: "Two years ago Julie Ann was not my child due to her drugs and criminal activity, but I can now say she is my child again."
Ms Stokes (20), of Southern Cross Road, Bray, was jailed a year ago for 3 1/2 years for a series of robberies. She had also been serving a five-year sentence for robbery imposed by Wicklow Circuit Court in 1998. The balance of that sentence was suspended recently by Wicklow Circuit Court under certain conditions, including that she reside with her mother and remain drug-free.
Before she left the court with her mother and other family members, Ms Stokes embraced a female prison officer and shook hands with the accompanying male warders.