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Thousands of Irish motorists, convicted of speeding offences in our villages and rural town-lands over the last six years may now be able to have those convictions overturned.
 This situation arises after a successful High Court judicial review case, taken by the Limerick based firm Hayes Solicitors, against the DPP. This case has resulted in a decision by District Judge Mary Martin to strike out speeding prosecutions brought under Section 5 of the Road Traffic Act 2004.
Section 5 of the Act governs speed limits in built-up areas, which are clearly defined in legislation as being areas of cities, towns and boroughs.
However, a recent test case brought before Nenagh District Court, here in Co.Tipperary, was withdrawn by the Gardaí, on the direction of the DPP, following this High Court judicial review.
District Judge Mary Martin, who sits in a number of courts in the Tipperary District, has now been striking out all cases involving drivers, prosecuted for speeding in villages and rural town-lands situated on both national primary routes and other roads.
Dr Hayes Stated:
“Section 5 of the Act only applied in cases where drivers were caught speeding in built-up areas. She said a built-up area under the legislation was clearly defined as being an area of a city, town or borough. In the test case taken, it was successfully argued that a town-land situated on the main Limerick to Dublin Road was not defined under the law as a built up area, therefore an essential ingredient of the alleged offence was missing. Many people have been now convicted of a non-existent offence over a prolonged period of time and their convictions were unlawful and in breach of fundamental human rights. The case has far-reaching consequences and major implications for the state particularly in respect of those who have been unlawfully convicted and obtained penalty points. There can be no punishment without law and to convict someone of a non existent offence was a breach of the European Convention on Human Rights. Drivers were entitled to seek a remedy and be compensated for being wrongly convicted. ”
Dr Hayes confirmed that the number of drivers wrongly convicted are likely to be very substantial over time and such cases had to be withdrawn by the DPP to exonerate those accused.
Peter William Sutcliffe, better known as ‘The Yorkshire Ripper‘, whose great grandfather Edward Coonan came from Tipperary in Ireland and who was jailed in 1981 for the murders of 13 women, will live out his life behind bars.
The British High Court has now ruled that the infamous serial killer will never be released despite having served 29 of his 30-year sentence. The courts believe that he remains a menace to society.
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Just last year Peter Sutcliffe changed his name to Peter Coonan, in an effort to show off his Tipperary roots. Aged 63, Sutcliffe has now served 28 years of a 30 year imposed sentence and is eligible for parole next year. At the time, British police thought the Yorkshire Ripper was Irish because several of his targeted victims who escaped stated he spoke with an Irish accent. It was because of this claim that several Irish men were actually arrested in England during the manhunt in the 1970s and early 1980s.
Irish TV presenter Garry MacDonncha who investigated the allegations as part of a documentary for RTE, Ireland’s national broadcaster, stated:
“Sutcliffe’s great grandfather, Edward Coonan… came over from Tipperary in the 1860s. We did track down his branch of the Coonans to around Ardcroney and Cloughjordan in Tipperary.”
 Five additional members of staff are to be recruited to the Thurles Garda Central Vetting Unit (GCVU) to manage approximately 65,000 vetting applications currently awaiting processing.
The average processing time for vetting applications received at the GCVU is in the region of 10 to 12 weeks, given that demand is particularly high at present.
The GCVU has managed a substantial increase over recent years in the numbers of vetting applications it has receives; 187,864 in 2007, 218,404 in 2008 and 246,194 in 2009.
The GCVU provides employment vetting for a large number of organisations in Ireland, which employ persons in a full-time, part-time, voluntary or training capacity to positions where they would have substantial, unsupervised access to children and/or vulnerable adults.
An additional five persons were recently assigned to the Vetting Unit, bringing the total to 83 personnel currently assigned there, including six Gardaí and 77 Garda civilian personnel. The further five additional personnel are being recruited on a temporary basis and it is intended that these persons will commence work shortly.
Overall, this represents a very significant increase in the level of personnel assigned to the unit, which stood at only 13 before current system of Garda vetting began in 2005.
Are you interested in becoming a member of An Garda Siochana?
According to the Garda website, a Garda Trainee recruitment campaign will now commence during 2010.
To register your interest in receiving notification of the forthcoming campaign log on to www.publicjobs.ie.
 Denis Stephen Bowskill (Troop) Police in Lancashire, England would like the following information circulated across Europe. This information has being sent to Church Child Protection Advisory Service member organisations etc, in case it should be relevant to any work in which the Church or child organisation are currently involved.
Police are anxious to trace the whereabouts of Mr Dennis Stephen Bowskill, also known as Dennis Stephen Troop.
Date of birth: 18th September 1966.
Last known address: 13, Albert Street, Padiham, Lancashire, England.
Description: Bowskill is described as being around 5 feet four inches tall, of medium build with short dark brown but greying hair and a ginger beard. He is softly spoken, with a North West English accent.
Mr Bowskill is currently numbered amongst the most wanted men sought by police in England and was featured on the BBC Crime Watch show last Wednesday, June 9th.
Mr Bowskill is regarded as a dangerous child sex offender, and has already been charged with creating multiple indecent images of young children.
How Mr Bowskill Operates:
His practise to date is to target vulnerable single mothers and then move on to abuse their daughters, including the taking of photographic images. He uses church attendance as a way of introducing himself to his intended victims.
Mr Bowskill (or Mr Troop) failed to appear in Court on March 8th last and the police believe they have traced him to Calais. School teachers and those with responsibility for young children here in Ireland are presently being warned that he could travel in our direction.
Police believe that he will quickly seek to make contact with a church to request support, because he presently has limited financial means.
A European arrest warrant has been issued for his arrest.
Anyone with any information is asked to immediately contact police.
About 100 trainees are to be recruited in the first Garda enrolment since the imposition of the jobs embargo in 2009.
Earlier this year at the Garda Training College here in Templemore Co.Tipperary, Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern indicated that a new recruitment campaign would be implemented in late 2010.
 Templemore Garda Training College We can now confirm that the Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan had given approved funding for new Garda recruitment.
This campaign will establish a further panel of approved candidates who will be available for ongoing recruitment into the Garda College as trainees.
While headline grabbing local politicians are busy claiming personal credits, through use of Mail, Twitter and Facebook, regarding Dermot Ahern’s announcement, we advise you to please beware.
There are already 300 people on a panel waiting to be called and these have already been put through the recruitment process prior to the last embargo being implemented, and these persons are ready to begin training with immediate effect.
It is unlikely therefore that this new recruitment is excluding those already on the panel and if it includes those on the panel, it will only stretch out, over a longer period, the waiting time for those persons already elected to the panel.
In February this year following early retirement and natural wastage, only 170 Gardaí were promoted as follows:- 120 to Sergeant Level, 28 to Inspectors Level, 14 to Superintendent Level and 8 to Chief Superintendent Level.
But do not let us put you off, best advice for those interested in applying for posts within the Gardaí is to create a profile now at http://www.publicjobs.ie/publicjobs/en/campaign/testing.do to receive an e-mail job alert, inviting you to apply for any available posts.
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