Prisoner who harassed his neighbour has some time knocked off his sentence

A MAN convicted of harassing his neighbour in Arvagh, has been told by a Circuit Court Judge “nine months in prison for harassment is not excessive”.

Finbar Manning came to the Circuit Court to appeal the “heavy” prison sentence which came to 20-months in total, handed down to him earlier this month at Cavan District Court.

The 42-year-old was sentenced to nine months in jail for harassing his neighbour, Ellen Glover, over a three-year period; while charges of harassing Ms Glover’s two children were taken into consideration.

For theft and handling three items of stolen property, Manning was sentenced to four consecutive two-month prison sentences.

The District Court Judge also imposed a three-month consecutive sentence for threatening to damage Ms Glover’s home and ordered Manning to have no contact with Ms Glover for a period of five years.

Gda Barry Clarke from Arvagh station told Manning’s appeal hearing in the Circuit Court on June 18 that Ellen Glover used to enjoy her garden and greenhouse at the quiet Tycusker cul-de-sac in Arvagh where she lived until Finbar Manning moved into a council house beside her in 2021.

An example of his intimidating behaviour was to stand outside her house staring at Ms Glover when she was in her garden and call her “rat”.

“He threatened to burn down her home for talking to the guards and county council,” Gda Clarke said.

In November 2024, when she had to go into hospital for an operation, Ellen Glover felt compelled to install CCTV in her house. “She could not go to the shops because he would follow her,” Gda Clarke continued.

“She also recalls an incident when she was face-timing her grandson from her garden and Manning was upstairs saying ‘there she is calling the guards’”.

“She had physical issues to deal with, which became mental health issues because of Mr Manning’s harassment,” the garda said.

On November 5 last year, gardaí obtained a warrant to search Mr Manning’s home and recovered stolen property - a Tipperary silver watch and necklace and a UV lamp, valued at €144.

Manning was also involved in a ‘wrong change’ scam at a local shop, whereby he duped the cashier into giving him an additional €10.

Prosecuting solicitor, Martin Heyden asked Gda Clarke what the timeframe for all the offences was.

“From 2021 to 2024 but all the incidents of harassment have blurred into one for Ellen Glover and her family,” Gda Clarke said.

Representing Manning, Niamh Murtagh Quinn, barrister, said she “respectfully submits” to the court that the 21-month sentence imposed on Finbar Manning by the District Court was “heavy”.

“He has no previous convictions for harassment,” Ms Brennan said. “He has addiction issues and the type of behaviour we are hearing about was when he was in the throes of addiction. He pleaded guilty to the theft right away,” she added.

Mr Manning was homeless before the Peter McVerry Trust housed him in the Tycusker estate in 2021. “The house is now locked up and proceedings are in place for Cavan County Council to evict Mr Manning.

“He’s been in prison for the past seven months and 10 days,” Ms Murtagh-Quinn finally proffered.

Judge John Aylmer said: “This is an appalling case of harassment. There’s no way nine months for harassment is excessive,” he said.

However, the Circuit Court Judge retired to his chambers overnight to consider Manning’s appeal and issued an order for the prisoner to be presented by videolink from prison the following day.

When Judge Aylmer returned to the case, he agreed to run each of the three two-month sentences for handling stolen goods concurrently instead of consecutively, as before, and backdated all Manning’s prison sentences to the date he went into custody on November 7, 2024, effectively reducing Finbar Manning’s prison term from 21 months to 15.