Steel was stolen in Christmas crime

A MACROOM businessman carried out an audacious Christmas crime by stealing a huge quantity of steel from the Sorensen compound in Cork and transporting it to the North in four trucks.

The original valuation on the loss to the Sorensen Civil Engineering company at Dunkettle was put at over €300,000.

However, the indictment against Tim O’Riordan, aged 42, of Rahalisk, was amended to read €18,000, which was described as reflecting O’Riordan’s part in the crime.

At Cork Circuit Criminal Court yesterday, Judge Seán Ó Donnabháin imposed an 18-month suspended jail sentence on O’Riordan for stealing the steel four days after Christmas 2009.

The judge noted that O’Riordan paid €18,000 compensation to Sorensen, which he described as a well thought-out scheme.

Bollards and fencing were knocked down at the Sorensen compound and a crane was brought to the site to load four large trucks with a total 130 tonnes of steel which was driven to the North on December 29, 2009.