Member
s of a Dublin gang who carried out a series of professional burglaries in Cork when they ransacked four houses in the space of an hour have been jailed for five and six years.
Judge Seán Ó Donnabháin said Thomas Wall (22), William Wall (30) and James Cash (27) had shown meticulous planning in their burglary of the houses on December 1st, 2012.
The three men had broken into four houses in the Glasheen, College Road and Wilton areas of Cork city when the owners had gone out, he noted.
Jewellery or cash
The three-man gang had travelled down from Dublin and stole either jewellery or cash and in one case jewellery worth €15,000, Cork Circuit Criminal Court heard.
“These citizens of Cork returned to discover their homes had been violated, their possessions stolen and what these men didn’t take, they threw about the place,” said the judge.
Thomas Wall had pleaded guilty to two charges where gardaí had found forensic evidence linking him to the break-ins but he had contested the other charges along with his co-accused.
Thomas Wall was then convicted of a further three charges, while William Wall and Cash were both convicted of four burglaries. The judge said: "I watched them after their conviction and they showed not a scintilla of remorse or change of character." Det Garda David Hickey told the court the three were caught when the son of one of the homeowners they had burgled noticed a car acting suspiciously.
He followed the car and contacted gardaí who stopped the car on the road to Dublin. They found cash and stolen jewellery in the boot as well as more cash and gloves, pliers and a crowbar in a secret compartment.
The men were still being questioned at Togher Garda station when some of the other victims began to report being burgled and gardaí matched the thefts to what they recovered.
Sentenced
The judge sentenced Thomas Wall from Neilstown Cottages, Clondalkin, Dublin, and William Wall from Naas, Co Kildare, to seven years with two years suspended. And he sentenced Cash from Boot Road, Clondalkin, to seven years and suspended the final year.
