'˜Let the Fenians off with it' Catholic told police

After drinking from early in the day while watching a football match a 21-year-old man later became involved with police when he was heavily intoxicated.

Ryan Conn, Primrose Hill, Gilford, was sentenced last Thursday at Banbridge Magistrates Court for disorderly behaviour on November 19 last year.

The court heard that at approximately 1am police on patrol in the Church Square area of Banbridge noticed a disturbance at the bus shelter outside the Coach Inn.

Conn, who was heavily intoxicated, was shouting about being ejected from a nightclub and continued shouting even when friends tried to calm him down.

He said: “Let the fenians off with it.”

When he was handcuffed he became compliant with police and agreed to leave the area. He was apologetic.

A solicitor representing Conn said he had been out drinking from early in the day watching a Celtic and Rangers match.

He explained that the language he was using was to his friends. The defendant was a Catholic himself and there was no sectarian intent.

District Judge, Mr Paul Copeland, said that testimonies for the defendant said he was polite and trustworthy but this did not sit well with his record.

He pointed out this was the fifth time he had been taken to task over drunken and disorderly behaviour.

“If you appear again for this sort of conduct you risk the prospect of a jail sentence,” the judge told Conn.

He fined him £250, ordered him to pay a £15 offender’s levy and bound him over in the sum of £400 for two years to keep the peace and be of good behaviour.

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