Northern Ireland judge jails man for taking call in court

DUBLIN - The Associated Press

AFP Photo.

Letting your telephone ring in a courtroom is rarely a good idea. Taking the call is worse.

A Northern Ireland man received a brief jail sentence yesterday after his phone rang, the judge told him to turn it off, but instead he took the call and had a brief chat.

The judge ordered 36-year-old Paddy Sweeney behind bars for two hours, then fined him 200 pounds ($322) for willfully interrupting the court in Londonderry, Northern Ireland's second-largest city. Sweeney had been watching a civil trial at the time.

Sweeney could have faced a maximum penalty of one month in jail and a 2,500 pound ($4,025) fine.