Serial Longford burglar who stole items valued at over €1,000 will not serve additional jail time

A judge has decided not to give a Longford man, who is in prison for carrying out a spate of thefts and burglaries, any further jail time after he appeared in court on further charges.

At a previous hearing earlier this month, Mark Kelly (38) of 3 Garveys Yard, Longford was sentenced to eight months imprisonment for breaking into the Longford Arms Hotel twice within a 30-minute period on October 21.

The defendant was identified on CCTV stealing alcohol and subsequently arrested by

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Mr Kelly was also charged with 10 other thefts from local retail outlets.

The total items and groceries stolen were valued at over €1,000 and the majority taken from SuperValu, Hazelwood Shopping Centre on the Lanesboro Road between August 11 and October 12 last.

During that time, Mr Kelly had an eight-month suspended sentence hanging over him from a sentencing hearing for previous theft offences that was imposed in May 2023.

That sentence had been suspended for an 18-month period.

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Judge Bernadette Owens decided to send Mr Kelly to prison for eight months for the burglary and theft charges on December 3 last.

She also requested a probation report as she sought further information as she weighed up whether to reactivate part or all of the suspended sentence imposed in May 2023.

The case came before Longford District Court again last week and Sgt Mark Mahon, court presenter, informed Judge Owens that Mr Kelly had been further charged with an additional burglary on June 22 last when the accused broke into Candy Cloud vape store in Longford, and stole €520.

Sgt Mahon also stated Mr Kelly had been charged with two more thefts and a drugs possession charge.

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The defendant pleaded guilty to all the charges.

The two additional thefts occurred at The Cathedral, Townparks, Longford where a bicycle was stolen on August 8, last, while yankee candles and alcohol was stolen from Tesco, Longford Shopping Centre on October 8, 2024.

Mr Kelly was also charged with being in possession of €30 worth of cannabis on the Dublin Road in Longford last April.

Judge Owens stated that Mr Kelly has “struggled” to overcome his drug addiction”.

She also noted that the probation report had suggested that the court could decide to ‘exclude’ Mr Kelly from Longford’, however, she did not believe this was a viable solution

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Judge Owens decided to impose a four-month prison sentence on Mr Kelly to four month prison sentence for the Candy Cloud break-in, which she ordered should run concurrently to the jail sentence he is currently serving.

She took all of the other charges into consideration.

Judge Owens decided not to reactivate Mr Kelly’s eight month suspended sentence as she felt the suspended sentence would be more of a deterrent when it comes into play following his release on November 7, 2025.