Letterkenny father-of-five jailed for 20 months and banned from driving for 10 years

A Letterkenny father-of-five has been jailed for 20 months and banned from driving for 10 years after pleading guilty to a litany of motoring offences.

James Mitchell appeared at Letterkenny District Court where he was charged with the offences while he was disqualified from driving..

The 42-year-old was also charged with a glut of theft offences committed across Letterkenny over a week-long period.

The items stolen include aftershave, skincare products, razors, three mobile phones, a set of earphones and power tools.

He was also charged with handling stolen goods which mainly consisted of clothing.

The thefts took place between February 18-March 10, 2020 at a variety of shops including Magees Pharmacy, Dunnes Stores, Homebase, Tesco, TK Maxx and Boots Chemist.

Garda Sergeant Jim Collins outlined the various motoring charges against Mitchell.

The charges include ten for dangerous driving at various locations including Ballybofey, Letterkenny and Lifford.

Mitchell, of Windmill View in Letterkenny, was also charged with numerous counts of driving without insurance or a valid driving license.

Sergeant Jim Collins gave a synopsis of the motoring charges against Mitchell.

On one occasion on April 28, 2023, he tried to evade Gardai in Lifford before driving across Lifford bridge but encountered the PSNI on the other side at Strabane and turned back evading Gardai and speeding away.

On another occasion on May 6, 2023 last Gardai pursued Mitchell across several town lands around Killygordon after he refused to stop.

During the pursuit which lasted more than 12 kilometres,  the accused reached speeds of up to 120 in 80km/h zones, forcing other cars ton take evasive action as he crossed onto the wrong side of the road.

The court was told that Mitchell has 44 previous convictions including 11 in Northern Ireland for various offences including the unauthorised taking of a vehicle and driving without insurance.

Addressing his spate of thefts first, solicitor for the accused, Mr Michael Shiel said his client had just split with his partner at the time and could not explain the reason for such thefts.

He said some of the things he took he would never use. "He's never going to use skincare products," said Mr Shiel.

Addressing his client's motoring offences, Mr Shiel said his client knew he should not be driving but he was and he holds his hands up to the charges.

"He knows it was silly but at the same time he still did it. He has no explanation for it but he holds his hands up," said Mr Shiel.

He added that Mitchell completely co-operated with Gardai when arrested and came to court pleading guilty.

"We could have been here for a week dealing with them (if he hadn't pleaded guilty)," added Mr Shiel.

He added that his client was a single man with five children whom he sees regularly and he has a good work ethic having worked at repairing cars and also been employed in a meath factory.

Mitchell is currently seeing a counsellor regarding the break-up of his relationship as well as coping with issues of alcohol and drug abuse.

Passing sentence, Judge Éiteáin Cunningham noted that some of the offences were committed while Mitchell was already out on bail facing other charges.

She sentenced him to a total of five months in prison on four of the driving charges with all sentences to run consecutively. She also banned Mitchell from driving for ten years.

The court was told that there are other matters before the court and Judge Mitchell adjourned these matters back to August 10 next by video link.

Judge Cunningham also took all the other charges, including the range of thefts, into consideration.