Suspended sentence for Henry Hoover gun stash too lenient, State says

The Director of Public Prosecutions has appealed a suspended sentence imposed on a man convicted of unlawful possession of firearms at the Court of Appeal in Dublin. Stephen O'Connor, aged 45, of Carndonagh, was handed a four-year suspended sentence in May by Dublin Circuit Criminal Court after pleading guilty to storing two loaded semi-automatic pistols concealed within a vacuum cleaner at his home on 7 September 2019. The State argues the suspension should not have been imposed in full, though it does not challenge the four-year term itself. The trial judge heard that O'Connor, who has no previous convictions, agreed to conceal the weapons when approached by a criminal associate during a period of gangland activity in Dublin. His legal counsel submitted that he was exceptionally vulnerable at the time, suffering serious mental health difficulties and previous suicide attempts, and had been exploited. The Court of Appeal, presided over by Mr Justice George Birmingham, reserved judgement, describing the case as very serious.