Derry man with 176 convictions granted bail after St. Patrick’s night burglary charge

A man has appeared at Derry Magistrate's Court charged with attempted burglary on St. Patrick's Night.

John Paul Harkin (46) of Faustina Terrace in Derry was charged after a woman reported a man coming to her front door looking for someone.

When she told him the man he was looking for didn't live there and blocked the door with her foot, Harkin left and was said to have then gone around to the back of the house, climbing over the fence and attempting to get in the back door that was locked.

Following this, the owner of the house rang a friend and told her of a man going around trying doors, with the friend then found muddy footprints at her own door.

Bail was objected to as Harkin has 176 previous convictions.

READ NEXT: Michelle O’Neill opens new Waterside Sinn Féin office

Police said that his last charge was from August 2021 as he then served four years in prison in the south.

They also said that he is currently in the Crown Court on charges of robbery and they believe he is a clear risk of reoffending.

Defence solicitor Seamus Quigley said that the offence was simply a drunk man looking for a party on St. Patrick's Day, telling the court that Harkin was 'extremely unlucky' to be charged with burglary as 'nothing happened'.

He also said that the man Harkin said he was looking for actually does live in the street where the offences were said to have occurred.

Bail was granted with a number of conditions including that he not enter the area and have no contact with the alleged injured party.

He will appear again on April 4.