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.

A member of the Walsh family raised the alarm and the men fled the scene in a 1998 registered Mitsubishi car.

The aviation fuel was being stored in the shed by one of Mrs Walsh’s sons, Joe, a director of Connacht Helicopters Limited, which operates a Robinson R44, four-seat light helicopter.

Apparently focussed and very determined in their bid to steal home heating oil and nothing else, the two men ignored power tools and other items which were being stored in the shed.

Insp Shane Cummins of the Claremorris Garda District appealed to anybody who might have information to come forward.

“The aviation fuel involved is highly inflammable and it would be dangerous to use it for any other purpose than the one it was intended for,” he said.

In recent years, as the price of domestic heating oil has soared, theft has risen accordingly. Gardaí have warned householders to be vigilant and say the thieves involved have become very professional, some of them travelling around in vans with siphoning equipment.