Daylight robbery

A DÚN LAOGHAIRE businessman has revealed how a brazen thief made off with €12,000 worth of jewellery from his store.

The four expensive items stolen from Costello Jewellers on Northumberland Avenue included a unique diamond engagement ring costing €7,300. All four pieces of jewellery were specially made.

The thief, who had been posing as a Christmas shopper, was captured on CCTV being shown around the store by a sales assistant when he fled the scene with the jewellery on November 17.

“There’s not much we can really do; the value of the goods made them impossible to insure,” said  Breasal Ó Caollaí, the owner of Costello Jewellers. “We’ll just have to suffer on.”

According to Mr Ó’Caollaí, gardaí believe that the burglar flew in and flew out of Dublin Airport on the same day.

“He was very careless,” Mr Ó’Caollaí said. 

“There was no worry about fingerprints as they were left everywhere.” 

Mr Ó’Caollaí described the robbery as “a scourge against businesses”.

“We have a very good camera so all we can really do is review our security measures and tighten them up.”

The incident was recorded on www.findingsireland.ie.

This website is owned by Johnny Gordon, a member of the Irish Jewellers’ Association. 

Mr Ó’Caollaí is of the view that he won’t get the goods back, but he hopes the gardaí are successful in their operation so that “people are in court”. 

Mr Ó’Caollaí added that the break-in took place on the third anniversary of the jeweller’s last major burglary.

“We had a well-publicised attack at the time,” he explained. “The front windows were rammed.” 

He added that shoplifting is a regular occurance, particularly in the run up to and over the festive season.

“We have had lots of shop lifting incidents in October and November of each year,” he added. “It’s more or less steal to order. The increase in shop lifting in the lead up to Christmas is always the dodgy bit in this trade.”

REPORT: Andrew Ralph