A convicted sex offender, who was arrested last year after allegedly stalking women TDs outside Leinster House, has been jailed for three years in Scotland. John Cronin, who in May 1996 also conned his way into a priest's house in Co Leitrim, where he stole over £1,000, was convicted of three charges of fraud at Edinburgh Sheriff Court on Tuesday.
Cronin admitted posing as a businessman, a doctor and a policeman to gain attention from three professional women. His solicitor, Mr Alex Prentice, told Sheriff James Farrell that his client's motive was not "sexual" but to boost his low self-esteem.
Sheriff Farrell jailed Cronin for three years backdated to July, ordering that he be supervised on his release for one year and that he co-operate with psychological counselling.
Cronin had been jailed for life in May 1992, after a sex attack on a woman Conservative Party activist. On appeal, his sentence was reduced to six years, of which he served four. The day after he was released from prison in Scotland in May 1996, he presented himself at Leinster House dressed as a priest, claiming to be a tourist. Later that week he was picked up by gardai after Mr Eric Byrne TD agreed to meet him in Buswells Hotel.
He was sentenced to 12 months in prison at Navan District Court after it was discovered he stole £1,180 from the parish priest's house in Mohill, Co Leitrim.