'Neighbour from hell' terrorised housing estate by threatening locals
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A man dubbed the 'neighbour from hell' has been sentenced to 14 months in prison after threatening to burn his neighbours' children and "nail them to the floorboards".
Carl Ryan, who terrorised his housing estate in Co Donegal, Ireland with a series of vicious threats over a 13-month period in 2019 and 2020, appeared at Letterkenny District Court via video link from Castlerea Prison.
The 55-year-old from Dublin, who has 44 previous convictions and is a former heroin addict, is already serving a five-and-a-half-year prison sentence after he admitted demanding money from the landlord of the house he was renting.
The court heard how on August 15, 2020, residents John McLaughlin and his son Pauric were subjected to a tirade of abuse from Ryan in the Burwood estate, reports the Irish Mirror. Ryan threatened Mr McLaughlin with death, tyre slashing, and chillingly warned him that he would 'never sleep comfortably in your bed again'. He then escalated his threats to include burning Mr McLaughlin's children, kneecapping them, and nailing them to the floorboards.
Ryan also threatened to burn Mr McLaughlin’s house down. It was one of several incidents Ryan was charged with, details of which were outlined by Sergeant Jim Collins. On July 14, 2019, Gardai were called to mediate a dispute between neighbours. As they were leaving, Ryan began walking across the green area and shouted abuse at Gardai, sticking two fingers up to officers before he was arrested.
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On October 6, 2019, a drunk Ryan went to the door of a person a number of doors away. A woman came to the door holding a year-old baby in her arms and Ryan attempted to aggressively push past the woman, who told him that the Gardai were on their way. After attempting to open another door at the side of the house, Ryan returned to the front door and tried to gain access to the property. Ryan fled to his own home, but was arrested by Gardai a short time later.
On August 13, 2020, John McLaughlin observed Ryan videoing a house at Burwood, Buncrana. Mr McLaughlin became concerned and began to record Ryan, who told the man that he would burn his house down. Ryan told Mr McLaughlin: “You’ll be gone out of here before I will.” Four days later, Pauric McLaughlin was washing a friend’s tractor when Ryan approached and threatened to ‘f***ing kill’ him. Ryan proceeded to abuse and threatened Mr McLaughlin further, with the incident captured on a mobile phone. In light of guilty pleas, a harassment charge against Ryan was withdrawn.
Mr Rory O’Brien, solicitor for Ryan, said his client’s health has deteriorated since his incarceration and has had to have a leg amputated. “He agrees not to come back to Buncrana,” Mr O’Brien added. “Upon his release, he will certainly not be back in Burwood.” Judge Éiteáin Cunningham sentenced Ryan to eight months in jail for one of the offences and six months for another with the sentences to run consecutively. The other matters were marked as taken into consideration by Judge Cunningham.
* An AI tool was used to add an extra layer to the editing process for this story. You can report any errors to [email protected]
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