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Man who dragged dead uncle into Carlow post office faces more jail time for €8 earring theft

Declan Haughney may serve a further eight months behind bars

Aisling Bolton-Dowling

Today at 20:10

A man who dragged his uncle’s lifeless body into a post office in Carlow now faces further jail time for stealing an €8 earring.

Declan Haughney of Pollerton Road in Carlow and Gareth Coakley of John Sweeney Park, Carlow Town were both jailed after they pleaded guilty to attempted deception.

Haughney took the body of his dead uncle Peadar Doyle (66) with the help of Coakley, to Hosey’s Post Office in Carlow to claim his dead uncle’s pension payment in January of last year.

Haughney has now found himself facing jail time again after he was convicted in the District Court of the theft of an earring worth €8 from Stacks Pharmacy in Tullow, County Carlow on November 16.

Haughney received a two month prison sentence as a result, but appealed the conviction so is therefore out on bail pending a hearing at the Circuit Court in January.

If he is found guilty in the Circuit Court, Haughney could face a further six months in jail on top of the two months for the earring theft. A judge will have to decide whether to reinstate six months of Haughney’s sentence for the post office incident that had been suspended.

This means Haughney could face a total of eight months in jail next year.

Haughney was sentenced to two and a half years, with the final six months suspended for one year for the post office incident, but was released in July after serving a year and a half in prison on remand.

But Haughney may now have to serve the suspended six months of that sentence on top of the two months for the earring theft, if his appeal in the Circuit Court over the earring incident fails.

Both Declan Haughney and Gareth Coakley made international headlines this year due to shocking nature of the post office case.

The court hearing in Carlow was shown CCTV footage of the moment Haughney and Coakley dragged Peadar Doyle’s lifeless body into Hosey’s Post Office in an attempt to withdraw Mr Doyle’s €246 weekly pension.