Tipperary man with over 160 previous convictions is jailed for a litany of offences

A man who committed a litany of offences over a two-month period has been jailed for a total of 10 months by Judge Elizabeth MacGrath at Nenagh District Court.

Roy Forde, of No Fixed Abode, but who is originally from the Nenagh area, had pleaded at a sitting of the court before Judge Mary Cashin last August to a number of road traffic, theft and drug possession offences last August and remanded in custody.

Judge Cashin had remanded him in custody and remarked at the time that Mr Forde had only been released from prison on June 6, 2023, and had been on temporary release when he committed the no insurance offence.

She also noted that Mr Forde had committed 67 previous offences while on bail.

The court had heard that he had a total of 163 previous convictions.

He had pleaded to the theft of garden tools and equipment valued at €230 from Chadwicks, Nenagh, on July 7, 2023.

He also pleaded to theft of a lawnmower valued at €350 from the same premises on July 14, 2023.

Mr Forde further pleaded to the theft of two laptops valued at €500 at Tesco, Nenagh, on August 3, 2023, and with possession of Methadone at an address in Carrig, Birr, on the same date.

Mr Forde maintained that one laptop had been recovered but the court heard it had not been fit for resale.

He pleaded to having no insurance on May 23, 2023.

When the case returned last Friday before Judge Elizabeth MacGrath, she jailed Mr Forde for a total of 10 months and backdated the sentence to August 4 when Mr Forde was first taken into custody.

She took a number of related charges into consideration.

She also disqualified him from driving for a total of four years.

Mr Forde’s solicitor, Elizabeth McKeever, told the court in August that her client was 33-years-old and had “chronic drug issues”.

He had spent a considerable amount of time in prison, she said.