Elderly man escapes after burglars tie him up

AN elderly west Limerick man tied up in his isolated home managed to free himself and scramble through fields and open countryside on a winter’s night to raise the alarm, a court heard.

Patrick O’Connell, aged 27, of Dromtrasna, Abbeyfeale, and Kevin Scannell, aged 28, also of Dromtrasna, at an earlier hearing, pleaded guilty at Limerick Circuit Court to aggravated burglary at the home of Larry Lenihan, now 70, at Dromtrasna South, Abbeyfeale on February 25, 2009.

State prosecutor, Michael Collins, BL instructed by state solicitor Aidan Judge told the court that at around 8.30pm on the night of the crime, Mr Lenihan — who lived alone — answered a knock on the door of his home.