The Court of Appeal reduced six concurrent sentences imposed on John Mongan for handling stolen property, finding that his guilty pleas should have received greater weight. It replaced the five-year terms with sentences of three years and six months, suspending the final six months.
Mongan had pleaded guilty on 5 November 2014 to six counts of handling stolen property under section 17 of the Criminal Justice (Theft and Fraud Offences) Act 2001. Galway Circuit Criminal Court sentenced him on 5 December 2014 to five years on each count, running concurrently from 12 April 2014. He appealed the sentences.
The offences were committed on 12 April 2014 at Balgeen, Julianstown, County Meath. The stolen items, worth about €40,000 in total, included power tools and an Ivor Williams trailer. Gardaí stopped a silver Toyota Land Cruiser towing a white enclosed trailer at the M1 toll plaza. Mongan was driving. The trailer contained the stolen tools, and the judgment says all the property was later returned to its owners. The court noted that Garda evidence had made clear Mongan was not implicated in the burglaries from which the goods came.
Mongan argued that the sentencing judge used the wrong maximum sentence, assessed the offences as too serious, treated him as involved in the burglaries, and wrongly weighed aggravating and mitigating factors. The Court of Appeal considered it unlikely that the sentencing judge had based the five-year terms on a 14-year maximum; the sentence described the offences as mid-range, which the appeal court said suggested a 10-year maximum had been used. It also found no apparent basis to conclude that Mongan had been sentenced as a participant in the burglaries.
The appeal court said the offences involved a planned operation rather than casual or opportunistic receipt of stolen goods. It also pointed to Mongan’s 21 previous convictions, including theft and handling stolen property. But it held that his guilty pleas were worthwhile and should have been given more recognition in the sentence. It therefore found an error of principle and resentenced him.
The court imposed concurrent terms of three years and six months, with the final six months suspended for two years. Mongan was required to enter a €100 bond to keep the peace and be of good behaviour during that period. The judgment also records that he was a UK resident and had applied to serve the balance of his sentence in a UK prison under reciprocal arrangements.