Woman saw burglar on Facebook

Woman saw burglar on Facebook

9 May 2012

A DOWNPATRICK burglar was caught when his victim saw him on Facebook, a local Crown Court has been told.

Daryl Wade (20) was part of a four-strong gang which broke into a house on Downpatrick’s Strangford Road on February 17 last year.

The three men and one woman demanded the keys from the owner’s granddaughter who was staying in the house to look after her grandmother who was ill.

However, the gang was so inept they hadn’t noticed there wasn’t a car at the house when they broke in through a rear door. And when the tried to get out they couldn’t find the keys to the kitchen door and had to break out of the house.

Wade appeared at Downpatrick Crown Court on Friday where a prosecution lawyer explained that several days after the burglary the granddaughter was told by a friend to look at a certain page on Facebook.

The page referred to a local gang called the Downpatrick Hoods and in one of the photographs she recognised Wade as being one of the burglars.

She told the police and Wade was arrested. He initially denied the offence but just before his trial was due to begin he changed his plea to guilty.

A defence barrister described the burglary as being “without planning or premeditation” adding the gang didn’t even know there were no cars at the house.

He said there was no violence used and the elderly woman who owned the house was asleep and was not confronted by the burglars.

Judge David Smith noted that Wade has a lengthy criminal record which began when he was 13. He has several previous convictions for burglary, including one where he broke into a house looking for the keys of a car.

Describing the granddaughter as a “courageous young woman” the judge jailed Wade for eight months and ordered he spent 14 months on licence when he is released.