Burglar who targeted student accommodation in Cork jailed for 10 months

BURGLARIES carried out at various student accommodations in Cork at a critical time when they were preparing for exams resulted in the culprit being jailed for ten months today.

Judge Olann Kelleher said, “One can understand the upset and trauma caused to students at a critical time for them when they were preparing for exams.

“One poor man (who prepared a victim impact statement for Cork District Court) failed his exams and attributes it to this. He had to repeat the year.” 

Sergeant Gearóid Davis said another student arrived home with his girlfriend to his apartment on Model Farm Road to find the burglar climbing out the window. 

Judge Kelleher said this would have been a very upsetting experience for the students and probably one which they often thought about.

The only fortunate aspect of this latter burglary was that 25-year-old Bradley White, who carried out all the offences, dropped a bag containing a laptop computer and other stolen property as he fled.

Students in three other properties were not as fortunate as electrical equipment including some being used to prepare for exams were not recovered. Over €2,000 worth of stolen property was never recovered.

Bradley White of Bannagh Cross, Kanturk, County Cork, and also of Maryborough Hill, Cork, pleaded guilty today to four burglaries carried out between April 19 and May 29 last year in Bishopstown and three at Parchment Square on Model Farm Road.

Shane Collins-Daly, solicitor, said the defendant was pleading guilty to all the burglaries and to driving a car without insurance on another occasion.

Mr Collins-Daly said the accused came over from the UK to visit North Cork in 2017 and stayed there, working at first in a supermarket and a fast food outlet.

The solicitor said the accused ran into difficulty with his accommodation and spiralled into homelessness even though he had no addiction difficulties. The defendant then resorted to burglaries in desperation, Mr Collins-Daly said.