Teen serial burglar escapes from custody

A 14-year-old boy, who has 52 convictions on his criminal record and was recently given a two-year detention order, has escaped from custody and has been at large for nearly three weeks.

The small boy had been detained in January for two years in the Trinity House Detention Centre, for burgling an elderly woman’s home.

He has a litany of convictions for burglaries and over the past two and a half years has been detained by courts in Dublin, Mayo, Clare and Leitrim for his offending, which started when he was aged 11 years.

It is understood the boy, who has numerous previous convictions for escaping from lawful custody, had been brought on a day’s outing from the Trinity House detention centre, in North Dublin, on Sunday, March 13, and escaped from a car when it reached Drogheda.

“We believe he is now being looked after by members of his extended family. He has not returned to his parents’ home in Dublin,” said a garda source.

In recent years the boy had been living with his family in west Dublin. Prior to that, he had lived with his family in different parts of the country, but mostly in the west of Ireland.

Last October the boy, who had been out-of-school, had been detained for two years on his 50th conviction for taking part in number of burglaries which occurred while he was at large from a young offenders’ detention facility.

During that breakout on August 9 last year, he had burgled an elderly woman’s home at Lynwood, Ballinteeer, Dundrum and was later caught trespassing at the home of an elderly man, also in the same area.

The woman had been in her home when the teenager forced entry by smashing a rear window with a rock.

On February 6, 2004, he took part in the three burglaries in Terenure within the space of an hour.

On December 11, 2003, he was convicted at Clare District Court on four counts of escaping from lawful custody, theft, two counts of burglary, criminal damage, and one charge for skipping court, which resulted in a two year detention order being imposed.

On February 21, 2003, at Ballinrobe District Court, Mayo, he was convicted of 10 counts of burglary and one count of larceny of property from an unattended vehicle.

He had been given the probation act on one of the burglary charges with all other charges taken into consideration.

On December 12, 2002, when he was 12, he was detained for two years at the Finglas Children’s Centre, by Ballinrobe District Court, for five charges of escaping from lawful custody, trespassing, theft, and criminal damage to property.

On May 22, 2002, at Carrick-on-Shannon District Court, he was convicted of stealing €6,350, two larceny charges and 11 burglary charges.