A CHRONIC ADDICT who carried out “a spree of offending” over a six-week period has been jailed for five years.

Paul Beatty (39) of Hawthorne Avenue, East Wall, Dublin 3, was homeless at the time and the majority of the crimes were committed in his local community.

He pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to four counts of burglary, two counts of robbery and two counts of production of a weapon on dates between 1 April, 2025 and 16 May, 2025.

Judge Orla Crowe described it as “a spree of offending” and noted that the robberies in particular were very frightening for the victims.

She set a cumulative headline sentence of eight years, which she reduced to six before she suspended the final 12 months of that term.

Judge Crowe said she was structuring the sentence to allow Beatty “some sort of a chance” before he is released, in an attempt to protect society from his future offending.

The 12 months was suspended for two years on the condition that Beatty engage with The Probation Service for a year following his release from prison.

Aoife O’ Leary prosecuting said the first offence occurred on 1 April, 2025 when Beatty gained access into an underground carpark while the gate was open. He then blocked the sensors to prevent the gates closing again.

He was spotted by the security manager trying to leave with a bike. He had a bolt cutters on him and the man took the bike off him and told him to leave. The bike had previously been reported as stolen.

The same day he stole a bike from the underground carpark from Independent House on Middle Abbey Street. There was a child’s seat and a yellow helmet with this bike. The helmet was later recovered, but the bike, which was worth €700, was not.

On 3 April, 2025 gardaí were called to a Centra, in East Wall, after Beatty arrived with a hammer having just had a “verbal altercation” with a man in the shop.

That same day, he robbed two tills from a pharmacy on Church Road in East Wall after threatening staff there with a knife. There was €714 in cash between the two tills.

A member of the public later contacted gardaí to say they had found two tills. The yellow bike helmet which had been stolen previously was with the tills, but the cash was never recovered.

Days later Beatty broke into a locked container, again in East Wall, where he stole an e-scooter and a backpack.

On 16 May, 2025 he stole a package from a UPS driver. A nearby security guard had spotted Beatty trying to shove the parcel down his trousers and confronted him. Beatty produced a kitchen knife and the man backed off.

The UPS driver then returned from having his lunch and also confronted Beatty but he was again threatened with the knife before he made off with the package.

That same day Beatty broke into the staff room of the Royal College of Surgeons on Stephen’s Green after getting in over a back wall. He stole power tools, a high vis jacket and a hard hat.

O’Leary said Beatty had 85 previous convictions including offences for possession of firearms and road traffic offences. He has no convictions for either burglary or robbery.

Beatty was arrested on 27 May last when he was identified as a suspect after gardaí viewed CCTV footage. He has been in custody since.

John Moher defending, told the court that the “bulk” of the offending was carried out by Beatty to feed a chronic heroin and crack cocaine addiction.

He said Beatty is ashamed of the fact that he offended against people in his own community.

Moher said his client struggles to stay “on the straight and narrow while at liberty” and is currently drug-free in custody.

He said Beatty wants to break the “clearly established cycle between his addiction and his offending behaviour”.