A man who burgled Fitzgibbon Street Garda station shortly after his release from custody and stole a firearm and ammunition has been jailed for three years by Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.
Anthony Burke (39) from Gloucester Place, Dublin 1, stole a Commodore Cannon firearm and 42 shotgun cartridges, a mobile phone, a set of handcuffs, a bullet proof vest and an evidence bag.
He also took a sports bag belonging to a garda on the same occasion on August 27th, 2003. He pleaded guilty to stealing the property and to the unlawful possession of the weapon without a license.
The court heard the gun and ammunition were being held in the station as exhibits for a court case.
The offence occurred after Burke was arrested for another offence on Parnell Street shortly after midnight. He was released early that morning but returned to the station. The break-in was discovered by a cleaner at 7.00 a.m.
Burke, who has 57 previous convictions, was arrested later that morning on Gloucester Place Lower near Our Lady of Lourdes Church after gardaí received a report of a man acting suspiciously with a firearm.
Judge Yvonne Murphy said Burke was a man with a "serious criminal history" and jailed him for three years. which are to run concurrently. The sentence was backdated to August 2003.
She also reactivated reactivate two previous sentences of two and three years which had been suspended. One of those was in relation to an incident last year in which Burke set fire to a sofa and assaulted a garda at Store Street Garda station.