Prison term for stealing smart phones

Smartphones belonging to female students and other young women socialising in Cork City were targeted by a Romanian man visiting Ireland at the weekend.

Garda Maurice O’Connor said the young man’s modus operandi was to take a phone from a woman’s purse when she was distracted.

Marius Vlad, 29, had only been released from prison for theft offences committed in Ireland less than six months ago when he turned up in Cork last weekend.