Phone Home | 

Wheatfield Prison inmate had phone to contact his family while father was sick, court told

Today at 08:06

A prison inmate caught with a phone in jail had it to contact family while his father was sick, a court heard.

Blaine Coakley (36) had since been punished in Wheatfield prison for the offence.

Judge Gerard Jones spared him extra jail time when he appeared in Blanchardstown District Court.

He gave the accused a two-month sentence but made it concurrent to the prison term Coakley is already serving.

The accused, with an address at Empress Place in Dublin’s north inner city pleaded guilty to unlawful possession of a mobile phone in prison.

The court heard Coakley was found with the phone without permission of the prison governor last February 20. He had 158 previous convictions, but none for a similar offence.

Coakley had caused no other difficulty for anyone inside, his solicitor Simon Fleming said.

He was serving a sentence with a release date in November 2026.

Coakley’s father was sick at the time of the offence and that was why he had the phone, Mr Fleming said.

The accused had already been punished in prison, where he had 40 days without privileges including shop access. Mr Fleming asked Judge Jones not to add to Coakley’s time in prison.

Judge Jones gave him a two-month sentence but said it would run from the date of conviction.