Footprints outside Cork house led to capture

Footprints left outside a house in Bishopstown where more than €15,000 worth of jewellery and personal property was stolen led gardaí to one of the burglars who was jailed yesterday.

The Bray man who burgled the house at Uam Var Drive in Bishopstown, Cork, was convicted five years ago of carrying out a burglary at a house in Waterford.

The sentencing judge said yesterday that this was worrying.

Steven Sutton, of 34 Dargan St, Bray, Co Wicklow, was sentenced to four years with the last 15 months suspended yesterday at Cork Circuit Criminal Court where he pleaded guilty to committing the burglary on May 16, 2014.

Det Garda Eamon Feehan testified that jewellery, computer games, and personal property were stolen during the daylight burglary. The detective said that unusually in his experience the burglars even stole clothing such as tracksuits.

Looking at the evidence presented in the case, Judge Seán Ó Donnabháin remarked: “They cleaned the place out.”

One of the key pieces of evidence was a footprint found at the point of entry. This was later matched to footwear worn by the accused when gardaí arrested him some time later. He and two other men were stopped in an Opel Corsa car identified at the scene.

None of the stolen property was recovered, apart from one earring from the house located in the Corsa.

Brendan Kelly, defending, said the accused was unemployed and suffered from depression. He submitted that the accused would not have been the main mover in this burglary.

From very limited resources Sutton came up with €1,000 compensation for the householders who were not present at the time of the crime.

Judge Ó Donnabháin said it was very serious offence and a particularly worrying one from the point of view of law-abiding citizens.