Burglar was asleep near do not disturb sign

A burglar who was found asleep in the corridor of a care home with a ‘do not disturb’ sign nearby will be sentenced later.

Stuart Perry, aged 42, and a female accomplice fled the scene with a bottle of detergent when discovered by staff but were arrested outside and described as “off their heads on drugs”.

The court heard Perry had tried crystal meth earlier that night for “the first and last time”.

Perry, of Thomas St, Dublin, but originally from Dún Laoighaire, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to burglary at Richmond Cheshire Home, Monkstown, on September 19, 2014. Judge Patricia Ryan adjourned finalisation of sentencing until July 15 to allow a probation report be prepared.

Garda David Maloney told Gerardine Small, prosecuting, that a staff member at the care home had arrived at work at 7.30am and noticed a ‘do not disturb’ sign from an office door had been knocked down. She then saw a male on the ground nearby with a female standing over him.

A second staff member heard her screaming and saw the pair in the corridor. Perry woke up and left the area with his female accomplice. Gardaí were notified and found the two outside with a bottle of detergent nearby and the keys to the office hanging out of Perry’s pocket.

Perry later made full admissions. He told gardaí he had taken crystal meth and his memory was not very good. He said he had just wanted to lie down and sleep somewhere.

The only things taken from the home were the keys and the bottle of detergent the female co-accused had believed was alcohol.

Patrick Reynolds, defending, said Perry’s father had died from a drug overdose when he was nine years old and Perry himself began abusing heroin and cocaine at 18 years old. He was now on a course of methadone and working with an addiction rehabilitation service.