Mark O'Shea jailed for possessing pipe bomb in Marino

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

Mark O'Shea was sentenced to five years in prison at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court on 23 November 2017. The proceedings were reported on 23 November 2017.

O'Shea pleaded guilty to possessing a pipe bomb at an address in Marino on 11 June 2017. The device had been placed under a prison officer's car and was discovered by the officer's eight-year-old son.

The court heard the device could not explode because it had no fuse. O'Shea was identified on CCTV placing something under the car. After his arrest, he confessed and said he had been asked to put the pipe bomb under a car and had been told he would get €20 and a tray of tablets.

Judge Martin Nolan said placing a pipe bomb under a car was a very serious matter. He said O'Shea had been preyed upon by others who took advantage of his vulnerability, was remorseful and had not known the house belonged to a prison officer. The judge added that O'Shea had not known the device had no fuse.

Defence counsel Luigi Rea said the offer of money and tablets had tempted O'Shea, who had a chronic drug addiction. O'Shea had 25 previous convictions described as relatively minor. His sentence was backdated to 14 June 2017, when he went into custody.