John Paul O'Driscoll jailed for Cork burglary and endangerment

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

John Paul O'Driscoll was sentenced to 12 years in prison at Cork Circuit Criminal Court, reported on 3 July 2014, after pleading guilty to 17 charges including burglary, reckless endangerment and aggravated damage.

The charges followed a high-speed chase through Cork city in which he drove a stolen van deliberately at a stationary garda motorcyclist. O'Driscoll had 168 previous convictions, while the court heard that Garda Michael Twomey suffered a very traumatic effect from the incident.

Judge Seán Ó Donnabháin described the chase as manic, mindless and phenomenally dangerous, and said it was at the higher end of the scale of offences.

This report covers an earlier stage of the case. Later developments are not reported here.