Five months in prison for man who walked out of jail to see his family

A MAN, who escaped from Loughan House open prison and was at large for three months, has had five months added to his prison sentence at Cavan District Court.

When Loughan House prison officers carried out a check at the facility on September 24, 2024, Martin McDonagh was not present, the court was told.

The court heard that McDonagh with an address at a property on Bishop O’Donnell Road, Galway, remained unlawfully at large until December 12 when he was arrested and taken back into custody. He appeared at Cavan District Court by video link recently.

His solicitor Martin Cosgrove described McDonagh as a 40-year-old married man with four kids.

“He’s from Galway and he wasn’t receiving any visits,” Mr Cosgrove said by way of explaining his client’s prison walk out.

Judge Raymond Finnegan asked McDonagh how he wished to plead and, when the defendant said ‘guilty’, Sergeant Galligan said: “It is what is.”

Martin McDonagh has 231 previous convictions including 46 for driving without insurance and 40 for driving without a licence.

In 2024, he was sentenced to two months in prison for driving while unfit. He also has five previous convictions for failing to appear in court.

Convicting McDonagh to five months in prison, Judge Finnegan also fixed recognisances in the event of an appeal.