Duo take off with chopper gasoline

Two men who thought they were siphoning home heating oil from a tank at the childhood home of pop mogul Louis Walsh got away instead with fuel which certainly has the X-factor — aviation gasoline for a helicopter.

Gardaí have now warned the thieves it would be dangerous if they attempt to use the highly-flammable fuel in a central heating boiler or sell it on for such purposes.

Mr Walsh’s mother, Maureen, was not at home in the early afternoon last week when intruders broke into a shed at the rear of her home in Chapel St in Kiltimagh, Co Mayo.