Gardaí were later able to identify the thief from videos he had of himself when his victim handed his phone in to Clontarf Garda Station.

Blaine Coakley, aged 27, of Lourdes House, Gloucester Place Upper, Dublin, was jailed for two years after pleading guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to theft of a mobile phone on the North Strand, Dublin, on January 21, 2014.

The court heard that Coakley had approached Daire Cagney near Connolly train station in Dublin and offered to sell him ecstasy tablets. After Mr Cagney refused to buy them Coakley followed him.

Garda Patrick Gallagher gave evidence that Coakley asked Mr Cagney to check the time. When he took out his phone to do this Coakley grabbed it from his hand and shoved it into his pocket.

He threatened him with a syringe and ran off. Mr Cagney chased the attacker and tackled him to the ground before he noticed the attacker’s phone on the ground and pocketed it.

The next day gardaí successfully identified Coakley from videos on the phone.

Coakley was on bail when he tried and failed to rob the phone.

Judge Desmond Hogan handed down a two-year sentence to run concurrently with a previous sentence for other offences. He was due for release in 2017 on this earlier sentence.