Mark O'Shea's pipe-bomb sentence reduced on appeal

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

Mark O'Shea had his five-year prison sentence reduced by the Court of Appeal, which suspended the final 12 months for two years after his release. He was required to enter a bond to keep the peace and be of good behaviour for 24 months from his release.

He entered a plea to possessing an explosive in suspicious circumstances. The proceedings were reported on 19 October 2018.

Dublin Circuit Criminal Court had imposed the original five-year sentence on 23 November 2017, backdated to 14 June 2017, when O'Shea first went into custody. Ms Justice Máire Whelan delivered the Court of Appeal judgment on 19 October 2018.

A pipe bomb was discovered in the driveway of a prison officer's home in Dublin 3 on 11 June 2017. The officer's young son found it in the front garden. CCTV showed O'Shea placing the device under a car.

O'Shea was arrested on 14 June 2017. He told gardaí that two people had asked him to put an item under a car and that he had agreed because he was promised money. He said he knew it was a pipe bomb.

The device had no fuse when examined, and the sentencing judge heard it could not have exploded without one. It nevertheless contained explosives.

The appeal court found that a more lenient sentence should have been imposed, taking account of the mitigating factors. It recognised O'Shea's efforts to rehabilitate himself in custody and said suspending part of the sentence would encourage him to continue that work and deter him from reoffending.