James Preston given consecutive three-year terms after sentence appeal

This report is a localnews.ie summary based on public court reporting and records; sources are listed below.

The Court of Appeal allowed the Director of Public Prosecutions’ appeal against James Preston’s sentences on grounds of undue leniency. Birmingham P. delivered the judgment on 21 July 2021, sitting with McCarthy J. and Kennedy J.

The court imposed three years for attempted robbery. For the later offences of criminal damage and unlawful taking of a vehicle, it provided for a further three-year term, alongside six months for dangerous driving. The sentences for the later offences run concurrently with each other, but the three-year term runs consecutively to the attempted-robbery sentence.

The court considered that attempted robbery warranted a starting sentence of at least six years before mitigation. It identified five-year starting sentences for criminal damage and unlawful taking, reducing the terms after considering mitigation. Preston had committed the later offences while on bail for attempted robbery, requiring consecutive sentencing by statute.

Dublin Circuit Criminal Court had imposed the original sentences on 15 and 24 February 2017: three years with the final 18 months suspended for attempted robbery on 28 October 2014, and 18 weeks for dangerous driving, unlawful taking of a vehicle and criminal damage on 9 May 2015. Those sentences ran concurrently with each other.

They were consecutive to an existing robbery sentence imposed in the Circuit Court in Roscommon on 9 November 2015: five years with two and a half years suspended, for an offence committed on 23 December 2011.

The attempted robbery concerned the Seabank Public House in East Wall. The judgment described Preston blocking the owner with his car before emerging with a wheel brace and Stanley knife. Gardaí conducting surveillance intervened.

The appeal court dated the attempted-robbery sentence from 21 July 2021 and directed full credit for the 18 months Preston had served before his release in May 2018. Although he had been in custody on these matters since 27 July 2020, he had also been serving another sentence during that period.