A landscape gardener who intimidated an 81-year-old woman into paying him €600 for work he never carried out has been given an eight- month suspended sentence by a judge, who ordered him to produce €1,000 in court.
Hearing that Thomas Coen (39), Corrib Park, Newcastle, Galway, had 12 convictions for deception and thefts, Judge Mary Fahy warned him that if he did not bring €1,000 to court immediately, he would go to prison. Within 10 minutes, Coen returned to court with €1,000 in cash for his victim.