A Galway youth who faces a charge of dangerous driving causing death in Co Clare in 2003 has been jailed in London on a burglary offence.
David Naughton (18) was sentenced to six months in prison at Wood Green Crown Court last week, delaying plans to have him extradited to stand trial here.
Naughton was charged in Ennis District Court in October 2003 on two counts of dangerous driving causing death, one of driving without insurance and one of driving without a licence.
The charges arose from a crash which claimed the lives of Stacey Haugh (16) and her friend Lorna O'Mahony (13), both from Kilkee, Co Clare.
The girls died instantly when the car Naughton is alleged to have been driving crashed into a wall at Carrigaholt, in west Clare.
Naughton was originally remanded to St Patrick's Institution in Dublin on the charges and was then granted bail at Ennis District Court. He was later returned to St Patrick's for breaching his bail conditions.
Naughton was again granted bail after telling a court that he had been assaulted by other inmates while in custody. When he failed to appear for a hearing in court in February 2004, a bench warrant was issued for his arrest. He was living at a voluntary residential care unit in Galway when he skipped bail.
In May 2004 it was confirmed that Naughton was in England when he came to the attention of police there.
He appeared in court in England on a string of charges, including aggravated taking of a vehicle without the owner's consent, driving while disqualified, driving without insurance and driving without a licence.
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has confirmed that when Naughton appeared in court on those charges, it accepted a guilty plea of being carried in a motor vehicle taken without consent, but withdrew the other charges because the witnesses in the case (the police) could not be sure Naughton was driving the vehicle at the time.
Last week Naughton pleaded guilty to a charge of burglary in Britain in 2004. The CPS yesterday confirmed Naughton was sentenced to six months in a young offenders institute at Wood Green Crown Court in relation to that offence.
Gardaí are expected to recommence the extradition process in advance of Naughton's release from custody.