A Dublin man was jailed in the Dublin Circuit Criminal Court yesterday for having heroin worth £6,000 for supply at his home. John Breen was given a 3 1/2-year sentence on the heroin charge, to run consecutive to a one-year sentence he received earlier this week for handling stolen cheques.
Breen (37), a father of five, of Old Nangor Road, Clondalkin, admitted having the heroin on February 13th last. His previous convictions included a four-year sentence in 1984 for robbery.
In reply to Mr Feargal Kavanagh, counsel for the prosecution, Det Sgt Martin Walsh said gardai found the heroin in a baby's pram and in a shoe in the baby's room.
Det Sgt Walsh agreed with Ms Aileen Donnelly, counsel for the defence, that Breen immediately accepted responsibility for the drugs.
Ms Donnelly said Breen had been honourably discharged from the Army and had served in the Lebanon with the UN. He was separated from his wife, who was the mother of four of his children. He also had a child by the woman he lived with in Clondalkin.