Derry man charged with breaching bail given 'final warning'

Derry Magistrates' Court heard today that a man who was the victim of ‘a vicious and cowardly’ attack at the weekend could end up in custody while his alleged attackers had been bailed.

Paul Farren (35) of Duncreggan Road in Derry appeared charged with breaching his bail after being arrested walking in the city centre topless at 8.40am and being found to have taken alcohol.

Farren is on bail charged with stalking a woman and one of his conditions is that he does not take alcohol at all.

The court heard that CCTV operators observed him topless in the city centre this morning (May 19) waving his arms about.

A breath test revealed a reading of 29mgs and he was arrested as he is not allowed any alcohol.

A police officer told the court that Farren has 196 previous convictions and added that he believed all the offending was linked to alcohol.

The court heard that after a previous breach Farren’s conditions were tightened from not having alcohol in public to no alcohol at all.

Bail was opposed as the police officer said the defendant could not abide by the alcohol condition.

Defence solicitor Seamus Quigley said Farren had been the victim of an attack at the weekend and two men arrested in relation to that had been released on police bail.

He said it would be ironic if Farren was in custody and the others had been bailed.

The solicitor said that there had been no other offending involved.

District Judge Oonagh Mullan granted Farren bail but warned him it was his ‘final warning’.

He will appear again on June 12.