'Cartoonish' Clare garden centre burglar left trail of compost leading gardaí to his home

Court heard accused had taken flowers, shrubs and stone ornaments from the centre and a trail of compost he left behind led gardaí to his home a short distance away

Accused pleaded guilty to entering the then closed Vaughans Garden Centre as a trespasser late on the night of February 10 to commit theft. Picture: Maurice O'Mahony

An unwitting burglar who fled a garden centre with a trolley full of stolen shrubs and flowers left a trail of compost behind him to lead gardaí to the man’s home nearby, a court has heard.

At Ennis District Court on Wednesday, solicitor for Eamon Quinn, 38, Tara Godfrey, admitted her client’s €500 theft of garden products from Vaughans Garden Centre, Gort Road Industrial Estate on Ennis’s Gort Rd on February 10 last was "cartoonish”.