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26 January 2012
Cycling ace jailed for drug dealing
FRIENDS IN the Enniscorthy area, especially those in the sporting world locally, have been left in shock with news that a former colleague has been jailed for three-and-a-half years after he was convicted in Dublin’s Circuit Criminal Court for dealing in drugs.
38-year-old Anthony Doyle, The Still, was a highly-successful competitor on the amateur cycling scene, had been arrested after selling cocaine with an estimated street value of over €11,000 to undercover Gardaí on three occasions in 2009.
When they searched his home in Milltown in Dublin, they discovered another stash of cocaine worth over €10,000, along with €22,500 in cash.
The court on Friday heard that the Enniscorthy native, of Milltown Hall, Mount St. Anne’s Milltown, in Dublin, was a former ‘elite cyclist’ and also restaurateur who became addicted to cocaine and began dealing in the drug to pay for its use.
Evidence was given that he became burnt out at the time after heavy training for a number of years. It outlined how he had given up cycling and started drinking and taking drugs, from which point his life spiralled out of control until he was arrested.
Giving evidence on his own behalf, he told Judge Martin Nolan that he was glad he had been caught.
“I feel happier now, even with this sitting over me, than I did at anytime then. I wasn’t thinking straight. I was rarely sober. Everything spiralled out of control and very quickly.”
The accused pleaded Guilty to four counts of possession of drugs for sale or supply on different dates between October and December in 2009.
He had owned a restaurant in the city’s Rathmines and employed a number of staff, but the business had since closed.
Known to friends as ‘Zippy’, Anthony Doyle a prominent member of the cycling scene from childhood, blazing a trail that led him to involvement in the sport at national level.
He is a member of a well-known and respected local family deeply involved in the amateur cycling scene for very many years. As recently as the close of the 201112 cycling season, he had competed in a new part of the sport, the National Cyclocross Championships, finishing in 5th place.
Anthony’s very promising career on the cycling circuit was mapped out from his youngest years, representing his club Slaney Cycling CC with distinction that seemed to beckon further success in the very demanding sport.
The local club, particularly its long-serving members who recall Mr. Doyle’s feats even at under-age level, has been left reeling with the shock news of events involving the former starlet.
During his trial, the defendant told Judge Nolan that cycling had been what he described as his ‘entire world. But when he stopped, he said he lost contact with his friends in the cycling world ‘before ‘falling in with a bad crowd.’
The Judge described Doyle as ‘a good citizen’ who had been a hard working man with a good work ethic, accepting that he was unlikely to commit further criminal offences in the future. But he also said he had profited from drug pushing.
He said that people should not benefit from crime, and had to be punished for this with a period in prison.
Judge Martin described the sentence as ‘a matter of punishment’, convicting on two of the counts, and also imposing a separate 18-month sentence on the remaining counts.
The hearing was also told that Doyle is now sober, and is also preparing to start another business, for which he had a number of investors lined up.
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